King of Knights
by SleepinEyes
Summary: Jaune find an abandoned building in the back of Beacon. There, he accidentally summons an Heroic Spirit, and now the King of Knights fight alongside him against the Grimm, their mystery closer to be solved. But in the shadows, a menace from the past lurks around. On hiatus until I stop being lazy, sorry. XD
1. Art Thou My Master?

Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting in from of each other, in a lotus position, both meditating in an attempt to discover Jaune's Semblance, the elusive power that kept escaping the blonde knight. He had a peaceful face at that moment, and Pyrrha stopped meditating to look at him for a while. She blushed a little at the thought they were alone, and how handsome the boy was, at least for her. She also felt proud of him, as since the Breach he had being more dedicated to training, and had made leaps and bounds on his fighting skill. If he kept it up, soon he would be on par with everyone else.

"Jaune, I think that is enough for tonight." She said in her caring voice, and slowly Jaune opened his eyes and give her a weak smile.

"Still no idea what my Semblance is, right?" He commented, making her gently put a hand on his left shoulder.

"We will discover it soon enough." She answered, and then he got up and stretched, not noticing the looks Pyrrha was giving him.

"I hope so. I want to be able to fight with you guys without you having to worry if I was alright all the time." He said and Pyrrha couldn't lie to him that she still worried about him, but now not so much over his skills as a warrior, but because he was important to her. "Pyrrha, better you go back to our dorm. I want to take a walk and clear my head before sleeping."

"I can walk with you…" She talked as the boy helped her up, but he held her hands for a while, making her blush intensify a bit more.

"Pyrrha, you are tired, I can see it in your face. I am grateful you are doing the extra mile for a dumb guy like me, but I will never forgive me if that takes a toll on you. Go rest, I will be there soon."

Pyrrha held his hands for a few more seconds before letting it go and walking back to the dorm, her mind still worried about the boy she cared so much, yet happy that he also cared her maybe as much. Jaune decided to walk to the backyards of Beacon, a place mostly likely to be silent at that moment of the night. As he expected when he arrived, nobody was there, so he slowly walked between the gardens and the trees, thankful he was able to make so many supportive friends, and especially for Pyrrha not giving up on him.

Yet he was sad that he couldn't show her more of a progress so both could feel proud of their hard work. Jaune thought about his semblance, and his desires. He entered beacon to be a hero like his lineage suggested, but nowadays he just wanted to protect his friends and make them proud. That is why he has being dedicating himself more to training. He especially wanted to hear Pyrrha say 'you did it' instead of 'you can do it'.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't noticed when he wandered far from the gardens and into an old building closer to the cliffs than the school. The place was covered in ivy and moss, and clear was not used for decades, its wooden doors long rotted away. The place wasn't a shed, he thought, and somehow remembered him of a school of some kind as he walked inside, curious about the place.

Inside, the place was definitely roomy, but it was empty, the moonlight penetrating the windows giving the place an eerie yet comforting look. Jaune didn't know why the place was abandoned, but he was already thinking if Ozpin would mind if he and his friends took the place for themselves. It would make a nice 'clubhouse' for their rowdy companions to let it out with their antics without bothering everyone else.

He walked at the back room, a smaller place that looked once was some type of lab or library, once again a completely empty place, but there was a magnificent stained glass mural with seven people depicted. They were under a chalice, and ready to fight, Jaune understood, and he would definitely ask Ozpin about it. He took a picture of it and approached, startling a cat that made the place its home. The cat jumped at Jaune and scratched his hand, a cut deeper than expected.

Jaune cursed his luck as he shook his hand, a few droplets of blood hitting the floor, where an inscription was hidden under the dust, now glowing with intensity, forming an arcane circle of some kind. The knight then saw a bright blue light shine from under the dust, and an explosion soon after threw him on his butt. He blinked for a while before looking up. A figure withstood in the middle of the light, and he could not be more surprised.

"I ask of thee, are thou my Master?" The figure said in a commanding tone.

There was a girl with bright, beautiful green eyes staring back at him, her eyes full of power and sadness. Her golden hair held in a bun behind her head, she wore a blue and white battle skirt with heavy armor plates over it, in her hands a two handed sword with blue and golden details. Jaune could only see her as royal in her posture and manner. He only could gag back at her though.

"W-wait… what?"

"Are thou my Master?" She asked again, not changing her posture.

"M-master?"

"Yes, I was summoned by someone, and considering thou art the only person here, I assume thy art my Master." She said again, as Jaune stood up slowly.

"Is this a joke? Did Cardin or Yang ask you to play a prank at me?" He asked the blonde girl, that he realized had a petite frame, barely taller than Ruby. She scoffed at him and approached, sheathing her sword.

"That is no prank, I assure thy. Show me thy left hand." She ordered, and Jaune was compelled to do as she said. She took his gauntlet and glove off and he saw a red marking on the back of it, a marking that wasn't there before.

"This is proof thou art a Master, my Master. I am thy Servant. I am here to serve thy in the war to come." She said proudly, and Jaune could only admire her. She was like one of the heroines he read from the old family books.

"Wait, war? What war?" He asked as soon as he left his surprise subdues in his mind. The girl was about to answer, but somehow the answer didn't came. Something was off, she knew for sure, but she couldn't remember at all. Jaune perceived her distress and gently touched her shoulders. "Are you OK?"

"I think… I cannot remember what I was supposed to say…" She said, and Jaune smiled a bit. He was sure that wasn't a prank now, she would be a hell of an actress to pretend being distressed like that.

"Maybe it has something to do with the Grimm?" He wondered, and the girl looked at him, like something clicked in her head, but she wasn't certain what.

"Yes, I believe it might…" She said, and Jaune let go of her shoulders, now becoming very nervous over talking to such pretty girl.

"So, I am Jaune. Jaune Arc. And you are?" She looked at him like his name made her remember something else, and she looked at his blue eyes, like trying to recover that lost memory from the deepness of his eyes. Jaune blushed at her intent stare before she spoke again.

"I believe it is better for my identity to be not fully known for now. Thou can call me Saber, as this is my Servant Class. The marks on thy hand are Command Seals, and that will allow thou to give me up to three orders I might obey no matter what, though I hope we can have no need for that." She explained, as Jaune tried to absorb such information.

"What exactly are you? And you said you are a Saber class, does this means are others like you?"

"Yes, Master, glad to see thou art perceptive. There are seven Servant classes, but… I feel something changed, and while usually only seven Servants are summoned, I do not feel the presence of the Holy Grail…" She said, her face then changing to a pensive frown.

"Grail?"

"Yes, an object of great power, that somehow I know it is very important, but I cannot remember why it is so important…"

"So, huh, Saber… What are you, exactly?" Jaune questioned, the girl changing again to a more regal pose.

"Servants are Heroic Spirits of the past... Albeit the term 'heroic' might not befit many Servants." She said, and Jaune rubbed his forehead. That was too much information for him, and if not for the mysterious red markings in the back of his left hand, he would simple brush it off as a prank.

"Look, it is late, and I need to return to the dorm." He said, leaving a long sigh.

"I have questions for thy as well, Master." Saber said, but she had an understanding tone beneath her inquiry. Jaune smiled at her.

"Let's leave them for tomorrow, OK. But… Where will you sleep?" He asked her, and then she just vanished in a glimmering light that faded like smoke. "Wait, Saber?"

 _I am still here, I just faded of view. Only you can hear me now._

"That is so cool!" He said, and for a second he imagined Saber left a smile out. "So, hmm, we will talk more tomorrow. Good night, Saber."

"Sleep well, Master."

Jaune walked back to his dorm room, where he found Ren and Nora sleeping at the same bed, something not unusual as Nora would more often than not fall asleep while Ren was tutoring her, despite everyone else thinking she did it on purpose. For his surprise Pyrrha wasn't sleeping already, and they shared a greeting as he prepared himself for sleep. He remembered the red marking in his hand while in the bathroom, and decided to use Pyrrha's make-up to hide it, at least till he could explain Saber to everyone. After he was done, he got into his bed.

"You stayed out a bit too long…" Pyrrha whispered to him, her worrying tone making Jaune smile at her.

"Found an abandoned building behind the school. I ended up exploring it for a bit. Tomorrow I will show you." He answered, and she smiled at him.

"That sounds grand. Goodnight, Jaune." She said as she finally closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest.

"Night, Pyr." He said, finally feeling how tired he was, and soon he found himself sleeping.

…

The next day Jaune was the last one to wake up, with Pyrrha gently shaking him out of his sleep. Jaune woke up and started to get ready as his friends walked out for breakfast. As he got ready, Saber talked to him on his mind, startling him.

"Gah! Saber!?"

 _Sorry for scaring thy, Master. I was wondering if you can answer some of my questions now._

"Sure, sure, ask away." He said as he put his combat gear, as Prof. Goodwitch combat class was the first of the day.

 _Where are we?_

"This is Beacon Academy, a school for Hunters, people that fight the creatures of Grimm." He explained, and he felt Saber was a bit satisfied with the idea.

 _So thou art a warrior, a knight._

"Not really, but I am training to be one. I am… Not a good warrior as of now, but Pyrrha is helping me with that." He answered as he put his sword in his belt.

 _The redheaded girl? She seems to hold you dear to her._

"She is my partner, mentor and probably my best friend. I wouldn't be here if not for her." He answered and he felt Saber was a little proud of such arrangement.

 _I like her; she clearly is a noble warrior, like the legendary Amazons of mythology. But if training as a knight is what thou need, I will provide training myself._

"That would be great, Saber! But I have combat class now. And breakfast. Do you… need to eat?"

 _I don't need to, though I can and appreciate good food. All I need to sustain myself is thy mana, that thou have plenty._

"Mana? You mean my Aura?" He checked his scroll, noticing a huge chunk of his Aura was missing.

 _If that is how they call it, yes. But if I eat food, I may not need much of thy Aura. And thou make good of being well feed too, Master. It will make your mana recover._

Jaune walked to the mess hall, after instructing Saber to not talk to him unless needed, as it would be seem as weird if he started talking by himself. He felt hungry now, and ate a huge amount of food, usually only comparable to Nora's appetite, what surprised his friends as they stared at his huge plate. Yang was the first to comment at it.

"So, vomit boy, did you and Pyrrha finally got down and dirty for you to have such appetite?" She commented, making almost everyone gag on their food, with Pyrrha and Jaune red as tomatoes.

"YANG!" Jaune, Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss shouted at the same time.

"Don't say such indecencies at the table, you buffoon!" Weiss was the first to talk, as everyone else recovered their breath.

"What, it is not like cereal girl would jagjashbbew." Ruby put her hand at Yang's mouth.

"Sis, I love you, but stop." The young girl said, and then she turned to Jaune. "So, training a lot?"

"Yeah, I think the exercise made me extra hungry." Jaune said, as he kept eating.

"I have an idea what exercises you two have made OUCH!" Yang received an elbow at her ribs from both sides, from Ruby and Weiss. Pyrrha barely could look at Jaune, who kept eating in silence, trying to avoid the inquiring looks.

 _Thou have interesting friends, Master._

…

The combat class was going well, as Jaune was yet to be called to fight. Saber, still invisible, observed with great curiosity and appreciation of the exercise. She was especially impressed with the transforming weaponry most students used, and despite the challenge of using such constructs, most students showed to have a great degree of proficiency with them.

Meanwhile Jaune had only two thoughts in his head. The hope he would not have to fight that day and observing the students while he was trying to create strategies in his head to not receive a humiliating defeat. Certainly though destiny would not let Jaune out of the hook that day.

"Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester. Your turn." Prof. Goodwitch called, making Cardin smile arrogantly and Jaune groan. Pyrrha and Ruby gave him a few tips, while most of his friends gave him words of encouragement. He just dragged himself to the arena.

 _Is thy opponent that difficulty to deal with, master?_

"He isn't the best fighter here, but I am probably the worst one." Jaune murmured hoping everyone would just take it as him lamenting his luck.

 _Thou need to believe in victory. Your friends believe… Two of them, at least. I believe you can win too._

"Thanks Saber. I think I just need to focus and do better…" He murmured as he readied his sword and shield.

 _And Master, flex your shield arm a bit more._

The fight started and to everyone's surprise, except Pyrrha and Saber, Jaune was holding way better than expected. He was actually standing at Cardin in somewhat of an equal footing, partly due to Pyrrha's relentless training, and part as Saber giving him hints and tips along the way. Most of the audience was pleasant surprising to see that the blonde knight was finally fighting as an equal.

Cardin on the other hand was angry. He always expected fights against Jaune to be the easiest ones, just a way to show off to the rest of the students, and here he was having difficulty with the scrawny guy. He noticed that Jaune was using his shield to deflect the attacks, not block, and that his counters were dangerous. Cardin wanted a fight were he could gloat, not that challenge he was reading. So he was forced to use the one thing he never used against Jaune.

Cardin activated his Semblance.

The mace seemed to get bigger and bigger as Cardin injected Aura in the weapon, and as the mace reached its biggest size, he swung it against Jaune. Jaune followed the entirety of the instructions Saber shout at him, and his body flexed exactly like Pyrrha taught him, his aura flowing to his legs and shield arm. But even so the impact was too much for the knight, and he was thrown several meters back, falling on his back, air fleeing his lungs. He tried his hardest to get ready to fight again, after all, three people believed in him.

Cardin didn't want to wait.

He would not let this end in a close fight, so he once again made his mace bigger, determined to make his victory unquestionable, and rushed to attack the fallen blonde. Saber noticed that this was an unneeded attack made out of spite, and decided she would have nothing of that.

Cardin swung his mace, only to see it blocked by something.

Blue mist dispersed as Saber appeared in front of everyone, the mace apparently blocked by some invisible weapon. She didn't gave Cardin the chance to counter, and with a movement she shove the mace upwards, before she spun in place and sent Cardin flying with a powerful attack over the stands and against a wall. With that the panel above their heads showed that Cardin was out of Aura, while Jaune was in the yellow. Saber apparently sheathed her now invisible sword and offered a hand to Jaune.

"Art thou right, Master?"

Goes without saying, that sentence made a lot of people give Jaune weird looks.


	2. Round Table

Jaune was surrounded, with no place to run or hide.

Yang was giving him the most full of innuendo stare she could muster, while Pyrrha face combined surprise, indignation and somehow anger. Ruby had the most excited of faces, while Saber looked lost in the middle of all his friends and class. Nora couldn't stop asking Ren all manner of questions, while the boy could only look at his team leader and his new friend. Weiss looked indignant over the boy that was just called 'master' by the new girl. And he was especially afraid of one person, Prof. Goodwitch that had a murderous look in her face.

"Mr. Arc, can you explain this interference in your fight?" She started, and Jaune gulped trying to find an excuse. He didn't count with Saber honesty and directness.

"I am Saber, I am a Servant." She stated, and Jaune got pale, while Prof. Goodwitch raised one of her eyebrows.

"A Servant, and Jauney boy here is your 'master'." Yang added full of second intents, amking Jaune cringe, while Saber ignored it.

"Jaune, care to explain why this girl calls you 'master'?" Pyrrha asked to him, her eyes those of a predator ready to attack her prey, and Jaune gagged.

"I am his Servant because I was summoned by my Master, and that is him." Saber said, her commanding voice causing everyone to admire her. Except Jaune, he wanted to die over the bluntness of her statement.

"Summoned?" Prof. Goodwitch asked, now properly curious over the two teenagers.

"Yes. Masters summon Servants by an ancient ritual that bound us together, so we can serve them." Jaune face palmed, that explanation giving Yang the biggest grin ever, while everyone started to give him some accusatory stares.

"She is my Semblance." He finally spoke, hoping that explanation could suffice.

"Wait, your semblance is a pretty girl?" Nora asked, jumping in excitement.

"Look, yesterday as I was walking around and found this old abandoned building behind Beacon, and somehow my Aura activated this magic circle, and summoned Saber. She is a Heroic Spirit, so she says." He explained, now receiving doubtful looks from everyone, but somehow the teacher didn't think he was making the story up.

"My Master speaks the truth." Saber added, and everyone whispered in doubt.

"It is bullshit!" Everyone turned to see Cardin entering the circle. "Look at her; she is probably one of his sisters!"

"Mr. Winchester, watch your language. And now, Mr. Arc, Miss Saber, do you have any proof of the veracity of your… tale?" The teacher questioned, finding everything indeed curious, as the girl showed conviction in her words.

"Very well, if proof is needed." Saber answered as her armor and weapon became dots of blue light and disappeared, now she standing there only in her blue and white dress. Prof. Goodwitch touched her arm; the heavy armor was not just invisible, but completely gone.

"Wow, how you did that!?" Ruby asked, poking Saber's arm only to feel her soft flesh.

"My physical body is a manifestation of my soul, and I am able to do so as my Master provide me mana, though you call it Aura." With that Prof. Goodwitch checked her own scroll and notice Jaune's Aura was depleting very slowly but steady.

"That seems impossible. Aura can't create physical matter." Weiss stated as a fact, but Blake disagreed to it.

"It can create my 'shadows', your glyphs and even Ruby's rose petals as she use her Semblance. While this… Saber is certainly nothing like those, if she is a Spirit, I can see the same logic being applied here." She said, and Ren chimed in.

"Her abilities certainly aren't common."

"I still call it bullshit." Cardin fumed, and Prof. Goodwitch looked at him making him shut up.

"Mr. Winchester, another outburst with foul language like that and you will clean all the bathrooms with a toothbrush." Her threat was not taken lightly by Cardin, which refrained of answering. "Well, it seems something is feeding of your Aura, Mr. Arc. And it seems that is indeed Miss Saber here. But you understand that we will have to run some testes to check your story. And be warned, if you are trying to fool me, your punishment will not be as light as bathroom cleaning."

"Aw come on? She is not a ghost! She is just using her Semblance to fool everyone! I will show you!" Cardin tried to grab Saber, but she just vanished in blue mist, he slipping right through it, and then she reappeared by his side, grabbing his arm and tossing him once again against a wall.

"Enough! Mr. Arc, Miss Saber, you are to accompany me as we will put your story to test." Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm and looked pleading at Prof. Goodwitch, and the teacher sighed. "Miss Nikos, as his partner I will allow you to accompany me. And as this seems to be a case for all of the staff will need to be consulted, so you are all dismissed of remaining classes."

"I still call it bullshit…" Cardin murmured just to feel one of Prof. Goodwitch's glyphs pushing him close to her.

"You will talk with the janitor and get a toothbrush with him, and he will inform me if you finished your assignment. Understood?" Cardin just nodded before being let go, and the teacher walked with Jaune, Pyrrha and Saber right behind her. Everyone else just gave curious looks at them.

…

The rest of team JNPR and team RWBY were at the mess hall, having lunch, though their main topic was Jaune's new friend. Yang was having a field day telling all types of dirty jokes about master and servant she could muster, to the utter embarrassment of Weiss and Ruby. Ren was trying her hardest to convince Nora that they couldn't just get a Servant, leaving Blake to her books. It didn't take long before Pyrrha, Jaune and Saber joined them back, the two girls talking together, Jaune looking tired.

"Jaune! What did they said?" Ruby was the first to ask as he sat down, while Pyrrha and Saber decided to get lunch for them.

"They believe me." He simple said, and every pair of eyes looked at him in disbelief.

"They do?" Ren said, barely showing any surprise.

"My Aura is being consumed by something, like a Semblance, and when they examined Saber, a lot of the tests returned inconclusive, outright off, or completely never seen before. So they concluded that Saber is indeed an Aura construct of a type never seen before." He answered as Pyrrha sat by his side and served him an unholy amount of food. Saber sat on the other side also with the same amount of food. "Since I can't just… stop giving Saber Aura, I just need to raise my caloric intake."

"Wait, are you seriously telling us this girl is your Semblance?" Weiss said in disbelief, analyzing Saber up and down. She looked like just a normal girl.

"It seems so. I was there and saw all of it. Basically, Jaune's semblance is having an impromptu… partner." There was a bit of sadness in Pyrrha's voice as she said that last word, but Jaune held her hand for a second, making her blush and look at his eyes.

"You are and always will be my partner, Pyr." He said with a smile, and Pyrrha felt a little better. He had that effect in calming her when she was distressed. "So, since she is technically my Semblance, I won't be punished for her interference in my fight with Cardin."

"So, this means she can fight with you in battles?" Ruby questioned, thinking that having a powerful warrior as a Semblance was the coolest thing ever.

"I will fight my Master's battles as long as they are noble, or if I am commanded to do so." Saber said, and they looked surprised to see she ate all the pile of food she brought with her and wondered where all that food has gone.

"Well, we don't know yet if she would be allowed in tournaments. But she will fight Grimm with us. Saber offered to train me, so with her and Pyr I hope I can not need to have my sorry butt saved every time." He said as he also finished his food, checking his scroll to see his Aura level was back to full. Apparently feeding Saber would really avoid him to lose too much Aura by maintaining her.

"So this mean Saber is a member of team JNPR?" Nora asked excited, and Jaune smiled at her.

"Sure thing. But first, there is a place I want to show you all."

…

All of them loved the place, despite it being dirt after such a long time abandoned. It was secluded enough that would allow them to be as loud as they wanted without disturbing anyone else. The place had enough space for practice, one of the reasons Jaune asked Ozpin if he could have the place, so he could be trained by Pyrrha and Saber without curious eyes looking at them. The stained glass called everyone's attention and was deemed beautiful. So with no more delays everyone started to help cleaning the place. They would fix the windows and the doors later, but taking care of all the dust and leaves inside was a priority.

"This place is awesome! It is like we have our own secret superhero base!" Nora exclaimed as she cleaned the stone walls with a wet mop.

"And we could have parties whenever we feel like it!" Yang added as she tossed rotten wood pieces outside. She was already planning the inauguration party in her head.

"I will see if I can get some furniture because we certainly aren't going to just sit in the floor." Weiss said as she helped Ruby cleaning the stained glass in the back.

"Ah, Mr. Arc, glad to see you are already at work. Hope this place can be put to a good use, and that none of you are planning to do anything immoral or illegal here." Prof. Ozpin said as he entered the spacious building, sipping on his mug, and Yang was sure he was looking at her while he said the last part.

"Oh, headmaster. So, any idea what this building was used before?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha stopped talking with Saber about the knight's training regimen.

"For now, we know only that this place was used for research in… arcane studies. Apparently this place was built at the same time Beacon was funded, but the first and only researcher was… eccentric to say the least, and after his death this place was abandoned." He explained, and Blake smiled a bit.

"Well, looks like the perfect place to summon spirits." She said, and Weiss and Yang shivered, what was the effect Blake wanted.

"Saber is not a ghost. Right?" Yang said, Weiss and she looked at Saber, and the knight girl scoffed at the thought.

"I am no mere ghost." She said, and Weiss and Yang left a satisfied sigh out.

"She didn't say she is no ghost." Blake added, receiving angry stares from the two girls.

"Anyway, this place is yours as long as you follow the rules. It is good to see students interested in keeping school property cared for. Also, your other requests have being granted, Mr. Arc. Your… friend is more than welcome to stay at Beacon. Just try to not get yourselves in trouble… Though considering your historic, I can't see you being able to do that." Ozpin added before leaving, the teenagers sharing some looks between themselves. It was clear that Ozpin always knew more than he let it show.

"Your headmaster is an interesting fellow." Saber said as she resumed talking with Pyrrha, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"What other requests?" Pyrrha asked Jaune, who smiled back at her.

"Well, some stuff to make Saber more comfortable. I know the staff is calling her an Aura construct, but I can't see her as that. To me she is our new teammate." Jaune explained, and Saber gave him a satisfied smile.

"So, Saber, are we sure you aren't related to vomit boy?" Yang asked as she looked at the knight girl, and she tilted her head.

"I would not know before examining his family tree." Saber added, before turning to a few new presences entering the building.

"Wow, you guys really struck gold here." Sun started as he examined the big space around and Neptune looked at Saber. "We can totally make huge parties here."

"Preach, brother!" Yang added and the two fist bumped and started planning the inaugural party together.

"I call dibs at the back room as a reading space." Blake already claimed the smaller room in the back, and planned to make it her personal library and a place she could read her Ninjas of Love books without fear of being found out.

"And we claim this space here…" Pyrrha marked a big square in the floor with her spear. "… As training grounds.

"Ren, Ren, can we have beanbags? And a mini fridge? And a soda machine? And a kitchen? Ooooh, a big TV screen big enough to be seem from the dorms?" Nora started saying super excited.

"Well, if we are claiming this place, we might as well add some amenities." Weiss said as she started taking notes, including many of the stuff Nora suggested, and Ruby also started giving her opinion.

"By the way, this is the Servant girl I was hearing about?" Neptune chimed in, and he started to examine Saber and gave her a shiny smile. Saber just stared coldly at him. "She is cute."

"My physical appearance has no importance." She said bluntly, and Neptune backed away for a second. "I am the sword that fights for my Master."

"Uh, she takes her job seriously." He said as he walked to join Sun and the 'club party' committee that now was formed by him, Yang, Ruby, Weiss and Sun.

"You need to light up a little, Saber. Besides you certainly are cute." Jaune added, and Saber blushed a little. Pyrrha noticed it, and felt a little insecure about her standing with Jaune now. After all, he had a Semblance that could easily defeat Cardin, despite Jaune's reassurance that he still wanted to be able to fight by his own, Pyrrha feared one day he would not need her anymore. "But then again, all girls here are cute. I am just happy Pyrrha and you are by my side."

The last comment made Pyrrha smile, even if it was not only towards her.

Soon Coco and Velvet appeared and joined them in discussing decorations, furniture and everything they need to make the place the club they wanted to make. After spending most of the day discussing the party and the amenities the place needed, they finally discovered one important thing. They hadn't named the clubhouse yet.

"So, we need to call this place something." Coco started, and they all gave suggestions, from dumb to inappropriate _(Damn it, Yang!)._ But nothing seemed to fit the theme for a place to hang out with friends.

"Saber, do you have a suggestion?" Velvet asked the girl that was in silence for most of the time.

"A place where warriors meet to discuss important matter and socialize… We had a place like this at my time, we called it the Round Table, a place where everyone's voices could be heard and where positions of power didn't matter." She said as she looked like she was reminiscing something. Nobody at the moment though wanted to question her past 'life'.

"Oh, can we have a round table Ren?" Nora asked, and Ren smiled back at her, while Weiss added the item on the shop list.

"I think it sounds grand. A place where we can all freely state our thoughts." Pyrrha added, and everyone agreed the idea was good.

"So it is decided. This place will be our Round Table." Jaune declared as everyone approved and they called it a day, returning to the dorms.

…

Nora opened the door to JNPR's room to find that one of the beds was changed for a bunker bed (a proper one, not the improvised deathtraps team RWBY made) and looked at it, the bunker was in place of the one Jaune usually used. On the top of it, several sets of the female uniform.

"I asked for Ozpin for some uniforms and the bunker bed so Saber could sleep with us, and she will be allowed to study with us. I think it would be nicer than just let her disappear and appear over convenience." He explained, and everyone of the team agreed it was just fair, with Nora hugging Saber tight, making the knight girl blush, yet she felt a bit of happiness over the gesture.

"Now we are team JNPRS!" She celebrated. Weiss on the other hand was glaring daggers at her own team.

"So, we could just have requested bunker beds." She coldly growled, as her team rushed inside their room and closed the door. "You can't hide from me forever!"

…

"Does this change our plans?" Mercury asked to Cinder, as they reviewed footage of Saber sudden appearance in the combat class.

"Any new element need to be analyzed carefully. We don't want this… girl to be an unknown variable in our plans. So, for now, we keep an eye on her." Cinder answered closing her scroll.

…

Somewhere in Vale, in a dark abandoned building, a man stood surrounded by old books of an age past and forgotten. He also was watching the video posted in the net with a great deal of curiosity, a creep smile in his face.

"Ah, a Servant was summoned… So I am correct…"

 **A.N.: So, decided to post the two first chapters of this crossover for your appreciation. I will resume this story as soon as I am back from my trip, by the end of the month. It is easier to write a story when you don't have to care about canon and what should you deviate from and what not. At first I was going to give everyone in RWBY and JNPR a servant, but decided against it as juggling too many characters would kill me.**

 **So, Saber was not going to be the only Servant though, I intend to add two more on the mix later on. I also don't plan to follow the darker tones from FATE, but the lighter ones from RWBY. Hope I can do good o both shows. ^^**


	3. Victory

That week proved to be busy for Jaune Arc.

Everyone was helping in fixing and preparing the Round Table for its great opening party on Friday. Weiss used her resources and contacts and got for them almost everything they wished for, and Blake was able to get several books and comics for their library. Pyrrha contacted a Mistrali glass worker that fixed several glass mosaic windows for them. Everyone else garnered as much fun stuff as they could, though Nora was forbidden into bringing every stray cat and dog she found.

Despite that they still attended classes, did assignments and trained for the upcoming tournament. And Jaune added to that his training with Pyrrha and Saber. The two girls struck a quick friendship, both sharing the same warrior pride, good nature and a liking to the blonde knight boy, though Pyrrha's feelings were clearly to anyone but Jaune stronger than simple liking him.

Jaune was doubling his effort now that he had doubled the trainers, and clearly that showed in his improvement. Saber clearly knew the sword and shield techniques and was eager to share, while the Amazon's patience and caring nature helped Jaune to not give up. The boy himself felt grateful for both girls by his side.

Sparring that night with Pyrrha, they all noticed how better he was when compared to their first duels. No more wasted energy, no more bad posture. All he needed now was more techniques and experience. During the spar he almost hit Pyrrha several times, and in one close maneuver she was forced to use her polarity control to avoid his sword. She felt very proud of it, despite once again winning the match.

"You did very well tonight, Jaune." She stated as they finished. Jaune just smile and breathed hard.

"If you can do this all with a few months of training, I can see thy becoming a fierce knight by a year's time." Saber added, coming closer and holding Jaune's sword arm, looking at Crocea Mors. "Master, this sword wasn't forged for you, was it?"

"Nah, an old hands me down. It was from my great-great-grandfather, but some believe it might be older than that." Jaune said, handing the sword to Saber. She took it and made some maneuvers with it.

"I see. This sword's blade is a superb job, so light yet so strong and sharp. But the first owner probably was not as tall as thy." She stated as she handed the sword back to Jaune. "Do thou have a blacksmith in this academy?"

"Yes we do. But the blade is made of an unknown metal, and it is near indestructible. No one knows how to reforge it." Jaune explained as he sheathed the sword. Saber smiled at him.

"The blade is not the only part of thy sword, master."

…

The party day couldn't arrive soon enough.

When Friday hit, there was a clear unrest between the members of the Round Table. All of them had a class with Oobleck, and the energetic professor, despite his fast speech and movements, seemed as slow as prof. Port at that particular day. Even Saber, usually eager to learn as much as she could, seemed too excited and restless in her chair beside Jaune. Her presence was already accepted by most students, especially the girls, and unbeknownst to her she had a secret fanclub already.

Otherwise she was mostly just like any other student. Pyrrha and Jaune were both her best friends, or so she felt. She also became good friends with Ruby, Blake and Velvet. The only ones giving her some grief was team CRDL, but none had the courage (and the skills) to confront her, so her school life, something she never experienced before, was mostly pleasant.

When the bell rang, Oobleck had no chance to say any other word as half his class simple disappeared from the stands, leaving just dust and rose petals in their places. Oobleck smiled and sipped from his thermos-weapon. He envied their youth, and lamented that wouldn't last longer.

The group arrived and smiled at their clubhouse, now finished. A new roof made of black stone slabs was put, and the new doors were made of dark wood and iron. The colorful mosaic windows gave it a church appearance, but that was all outside. Jaune grabbed his key and opened the door, revealing the new interior. The floor now had beautiful red and golden carpets, and the walls were decorated with many paintings his family sent him on his request. He turned on the electric lights, revealing the new furniture, courtesy of Weiss. On the right side a mini-arena was installed, equipped with hard light barriers, meaning they could go all out in their training if needed. Some gym equipment was installed there too. The bathrooms were installed in that side too, the only new addition to the building itself. The left side had the biggest holo-screen Weiss could fit in the room, a complete central kitchen, a big fridge, chairs, beanbags, game consoles and a shelf full with movies, videogames and board games, provided mostly by Sun and Neptune. There were several pieces of decoration that Coco and Velvet got, and the place had this castle/summer house by the lake feeling.

The biggest addition though was the literal round table in the middle of the place. The beautifully crafted wood table had the Remnant map masterly etched in its surface, and twenty chairs covered in blue velvet surrounded it. Saber got closer to it and smiled at the table, her eyes a mix of longing and melancholy. Everyone else had big smiles in their faces as Jaune prompted everyone to seat. It was time for the first meeting of the Round Table.

They sat with Jaune in the opposite side of the door, Pyrrha by his right side, followed by Nora and Ren. Then there was team RWBY, in this order, Team CFVY, with Coco, Velvet, Yatsu and Fox and finally Sun and Neptune. Saber sat by Jaune's left side.

"So, I think the first order of the day is defining the rules for our club." Jaune started, and everyone agreed with it.

"So, who will be the club president?" Coco questioned, relaxing in the comfortable chair.

"I suggest Jaune, since it was all his idea after all." Velvet said, and Jaune scratched his head. He didn't felt confident enough to assume that responsibility.

"I think that is grand." Pyrrha supported it, and aside a bit of complaints by Weiss, they ended up unanimously electing Jaune as the club's leader.

"But I will keep an eye on you, Arc." Weiss added, making him chuckle nervously. He them provided everyone with paper and pen.

"Everyone, the first and unchangeable rule of this table is that all members have a voice. So I want all of you to suggest rules for our club." He said, and soon everyone was talking and writing. After an hour or so they finally agreed with a set of ten basic rules, which Blake wrote in parchment, with a beautiful calligraphy. Yatsu then decorated it with some drawings in old medieval style, and they proudly fixed the rules in the wall close to the door, by its left side.

 _ **The Round Table 10 Laws of Fun**_

 _ **To become a member, you need to be appointed by half of the current members.**_

 _ **Every member has a voice in the Round Table and a key for the door. Don't lose it or lend it to non-members.**_

 _ **Don't be a jerk to others; if you do we will kick your sorry ass out of here. That's if Nora don't break your legs first. We are NOT joking, she will.**_

 _ **Respect everyone's space. We have plenty of room here, no need to get into others personal space.**_

 _ **Don't touch other people's food. You WILL be killed if you do.**_

 _ **Do not disturb the silence of the library. You WILL be killed if you do.**_

 _ **This place is for everyone, so clean up your mess before leaving.**_

 _ **Seasonal cleaning is mandatory. Unless you are sick and it is contagious. Your germs are not welcome.**_

 _ **Do not flirt inside, nobody wants to see it, except Yang, and she WILL tease you till you want to die. Seriously.**_

 _ **We help each other, so don't shy away from talking about your problems. We will help you to solve them even if it kills you. We will try not to, though.**_

They smiled at it and patted each other in the shoulders when the door opened suddenly. Cardin Winchester and his team entered without ceremony and received the death stares of everyone present.

"You guys really made this place comfy. I thank you in name of my boys." He said.

"Yeah, no. You are not invited. This is a private club." Weiss said, as everyone positioned to not let team CRDL go further inside the club.

"This is school ground; you can't forbid me or my team here." Cardin growled back.

"We can and we will. This place was trusted on us by prof. Ozpin to do as we please as long as we don't break any school rules. So I suggest you to leave." Pyrrha stated, clearly angered over the bully's presence, ruining the mood.

"Make me, cereal girl." He challenged, ignoring he was outnumbered and that Pyrrha alone could beat his whole team. Jaune sighed, knowing his only intention was to ruin the mood, since there was no way he could win a fight against everyone there.

"Miss Nikos will not do anything, Mr. Winchester. Me, on the other hand…" They turned to the door and saw Ms. Goodwitch there. Her face clearly showed she was not pleased. "Beacon lent this space to Mr. Arc, and it is his responsibility to preserve it, as it is his prerogative to decide who can and who can't use this space. Besides, it was he and his friends that fixed this otherwise abandoned building. If you find a similar space, we can negotiate your use of it, otherwise, I suggest you and your team leave here."

Cardin's face contorted in rage, but he and his friends stormed out of the place, knowing very well that with the teacher there, they could not create the havoc they wanted, and he learned that Goodwitch would follow any threat she threw at him. Everyone breathed easier as soon as he left.

"Good grief, I really should fix that boy's awful attitude while I can." She said to the group.

"I do not understand why that jerk was allowed here in Beacon to begin with." Sun added, receiving a disapproving glare from the professor over his choice of words.

"Because of the Grimm." They turned to see Yang speaking. "He is a good fighter, and he wants to fight damn deadly monsters. So, beggars can't be choosers."

"While the choice of words isn't exactly what I would use, Miss Xiao Long is right. We do need all people with the skill and disposition to fight the Grimm." She said, and noticed the gloomy atmosphere around, so she smiled. "But tonight isn't supposed to be a celebration? I come here to inform some good news for you."

"Really?" some of them spoke at the same time.

"First I was chosen to be your club's advisor. Don't worry; I am not here to enforce rules, since this club is for you children to relax. As long as you don't do anything illegal or dangerous, all I will do is observe." They all smiled back to her. "Second, Jaune and Saber will be allowed to participate in the Tournament qualifiers. The bad news of this is that the other schools will observe you two before defining if you could fight at the tournament itself."

"That is not very nice. Letting Jaune and Saber fight and if they qualify, saying they can't participate in the tournament anyway." Ruby complained, almost everyone supporting her.

"It does not matter. We will do our best there and walk proudly over our victories." Saber said, and Jaune agreed.

"I probably would not even consider participating in the Tournament before. So might as well take the chance to see it as a training match." He said, and Pyrrha gently hold his arm, reassuring him.

"You do well doing that, Mr. Arc. Your progress in the last months is undeniable, so I expect a good show from you." She said, and Jaune actually blushed over her reassurance. "That said, the blacksmith asked me to deliver something to you."

Ms. Goodwitch gave him Crocea Mors back. The handle and hilt were changed, for a longer handle and a more complex hilt. Between the hilt and the blade there was a half foot long beautiful extension, white and golden with the two crescents that made the Arc family crest. The blade itself was unchanged, but the extension increased the sword's reach. The shield itself received no changes.

"Woah, they made a good job." He said going to the arena and testing the sword. "The weight and balance barely changed."

"Thou still need to practice with it, Master." Saber said, with a proud smile in her face. "Now thou can use thy height as an advantage"

"Well, so why not a spar practice?" Weiss said, grabbing her rapier and getting up on the arena. "To be fair, you can't have Saber's help, and I won't use my glyphs."

"Why not? Thanks for the help, Weiss. Ms. Goodwitch, do you mind being the judge?" Jaune asked as he prepared himself.

"Certainly. I want to see how much progress your tutelage under Miss Nikos and Miss Saber gave you." She said as they activated the hard light barrier. Weiss rolled the rapier's barrel and smiled at Jaune.

"I promise to not hurt you… much." She said as she got in position and fixed her stance.

"Thanks, Weiss. Just remember to give me some pointers after." He said, and Weiss smiled surprised. He really got over her.

The battle, on the other hand, was not what Weiss supposed it would be. Jaune's shield showed to be harder to deal with than she expected. His weight and strength made harder for her to break his defenses with her weapon. Meanwhile, his counters were proving to be quiet dangerous, as the extended reach of his new Crocea Mors proved to give him a serious advantage. He could get in attack reach and keep her at bay.

Her main advantage though was her Dust rounds, and she didn't hesitate to use it. First she used her ice Dust to create obstacles around Jaune, and used her most acrobatic capacity to attack, forcing him to get mostly on defense. Then she used fire Dust to attack him, making the shield irrelevant. But Jaune's huge reserves of Aura showed to be a great counterpoint to her Dust. Even giving a bit of it to Saber, he still had way more than Weiss, and she needed to use her own Aura to power her Dust.

So when she checked her scroll, she wasn't happy to see Jaune in the green while she was going in the yellow. A war of attrition would cost her the battle. So she armed her weapon with thunder Dust and attacked Jaune, the lightning making him dizzy. She attacked at that moment, draining him of a good chunk of his Aura. She smiled and prepared to repeat the same attack again, confident the battle was hers.

Everyone already expected her to win, despite the good show Jaune put for them. Weiss simple had the advantage of proper training and her Dust. Only Pyrrha and Saber still held in their hearts hope Jaune could turn the tables around. Jaune decided to use the only skill he knew he had that Weiss lacked. Strategic thinking.

Weiss once again used her lightning and attacked, while already moving for a final attack. But then she got surprised. Jaune craved his sword in the floor, and crouched, the sword acting as a ground wire and absorbing the lightning. He used his shield to block her attack and pushed her back a few feet, before he grabbed his sword back and slammed her said, throwing her against one of the ice walls she made. Before she could get up again, prof. Goodwitch called the battle.

"The battle is over, Jaune Arc is the victor." She stated, and Weiss checked her scroll. She was in the red and Jaune was in the yellow, despite barely.

Their friends were shocked over that result, and only moved after Pyrrha let a happy squeal and rushed to give Jaune a tight hug. The boy was still processing what happened, but had a big smile in his face as he hugged her back. Soon all of their friends surrounded them and gave the boy congratulations, a proud Saber patted his back.

"I knew thou could win, Master." She said, but Jaune just pushed her into the hug, making her blush in surprised.

"I owe this to Pyrrha and you, Saber. Thank you. Thanks, Pyr." Both girls smiled and blushed before they let him go. Weiss approached and had a displeased face.

"You fought well, Arc." She said, making a big effort to hide her disappointment over her defeat.

"If you used your glyphs, you would have won this in two moves." He said with a smile. "But thanks for sparring with me."

"Well, this shows that you are ready to get a more rigorous training." She said, finally forming an honest smile in her face. "I.. I will provide help to you if I have the free time to spare."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." He side, extended his hand to her, to which she accepted with a smile.

"Just, don't hurt me too badly." He added, and everyone laughed.

…

The rest of the nigh was spent with all of them having fun. Jaune proved to be very skilled with the grill, and he cooked all types of meats to his friends. Saber in special couldn't get off his side as she ate more than anyone else. They were thankful they had plenty of food for everyone, as Nora and Jaune also ate a lot. They played lots of games (to everyone's surprise, Velvet was the best gamer of them all) and talked a lot. Even prof. Goodwitch was in a good mood, and proved to be a nice person to be around outside the school environment.

After a while, as the night was going on, Jaune found himself in the back room, now a proper library for Blake, who sat in a beanbag and was reading a book (not a perv one) and they gently exchanged greetings. Jaune looked at the now clean and beautiful mosaic glass at the room, which shone over the moon light. He wondered what the future reserved for him as Ms. Goodwitch entered the room.

"What is troubling you, Mr. Arc?" She asked softly.

"Just wondering that I might be really lucky. I got some great friends to help me, and now Saber. I just hope I can live to their expectations." He said, and Glynda smiled at it. He could be tall, but he was still a teenager.

"If you keep the good job, I am certain you will." She said, and Jaune let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks, professor. I owe you a lot too. After all, you didn't gave up on me either."

Glynda knew already of Jaune's circumstances, about his fake transcripts. She would never understand why his parents, especially his mother, didn't give him the proper training. It was clear to her the boy was talented, just lacked guidance. She would ask them next time they met. It was then that Blake chimed in, changing the subject.

"So, it was here that you summoned Saber the first time?" She asked. There were no more signs of the magic circle when they arrived the day after meeting Saber.

"Yeah, despite what Saber says, I still have trouble just accepting it. Though I believe in her." He said as he looked at the now pristine stone ground.

"I just wonder if other people could summon their own Servants. And I fear what a powerful entity as them would cause in the wrong hands." She said, and both Jaune and Glynda wandered the same, and hoped to never be confronted with such.

…

"Ah, that boy could be useful." A tall man in black cloaks said as he saw Cardin walking around, fuming over the fact he was owned once again. "He will be the perfect test subject."

"Do you think it is wise to let such idiotic child to have a Servant?" a voice said from the shadows.

"For our purposes of assessing Saber's capacities, he is the ideal sacrifice." The man answered before vanishing in the shadows.

 **A.N. I am back from my vacation, and Ireland is a fabulous place. So I am resuming more frequent updates of my stories from now on. That goes to '** _ **Tales of Beacon**_ **' too. Thanks for your support.**


	4. Qualifiers

The day of the qualifiers arrived way too fast for Jaune. That week was spent with lots of training for everyone, and he was really glad they could use the clubhouse arena for more intense and private training. Jaune wasn't nervous, for his own surprise. His new sword proved to improve his performance quite much, and despite he being unable to win against his friends in a full-on fight with Semblances alone, Saber proved that she could cover his bases very well.

Saber on the other hand was excited to participate in the qualifiers, even if their entrance in the tournament was still in the air. Pyrrha was nervous, something she always was before tournaments, but confident that her time spent training Jaune would not interfere with her performance. The others were either overconfident (mostly Nora and Yang) or incredible nervous (Ruby and surprisingly, Weiss).

The Beacon qualifiers were unique between the hunting schools. Instead of simple choosing four of the best fighters, Ozpin used a very unique method. There would be eight arenas, and eight random students would occupy them. Any student wanting to participate in the tournament would have to challenge those eight students. The winner would keep the arena, while the loser would have to go to another arena and challenge it. You were only able to challenge the same arena if you conquered one victory previously. If you lose in all eight arenas, you would be disqualified. People that hold an arena would have fifteen minutes between each fight to recover.

It sounded brutal, but Ozpin's logic was that Beacon train people to fight Grimm, not for tournament fights, therefore the qualifiers was simple a way to train students and for them to realize their limits. The qualifiers ended only when no students were left to challenge the eight students that held arenas in the end, and those eight would randomly fight each other for the final four to be chosen.

"So, we all agree we will not fight each other until it is absolutely necessary?" Ruby questioned her friends during breakfast.

"Yeah, we will focus on conquer arenas from people outside our teams, unless we find ourselves arena-less." Jaune agreed as everyone exchanged handshakes.

"So, vomit boy, how you will do it? Will you and Saber go all out from the beginning?" Yang asked and Jauned smiled.

"Oh, I will not tell you my strategies, sunshine. We might end up fighting each other." He said as he ate a waffle.

"My, aren't we confident?" Yang smiled and winked, pleased with her new nickname and to the fact her friend seemed calm instead of his 'scared rabbit' mode.

"Pyr, are you Ok? You seem a bid distant…" Jaune turned to Pyrrha, which didn't hear him until he gently took her hand, making her blush while everyone else, except saber, give them knowing looks.

"Oh, sorry Jaune. It is just… It is just that I heard some of our fellow students saying that athey would not challenge me if I get an arena…" She said, and Jaune squeezed her hand in a reassuring motion, making Pyrrha blush a little more.

"And you don't want people to think you are this goddess so far beyond them that they won't even try to approach you?" He guessed, and she could only nod in affirmation, too happy to speak, seeing how her blonde knight knew her and her worries so well.

"Don't worry cereal girl. I will kick your butt as hard as I can if we have to fight." Yang assured Pyrrha, which let out a chuckle out of the rude, but friendly comment.

"Not if I kick yours first, Yang." She answered and everyone had smiles in their faces.

"Is this some type of fetish? Can we watch?" Sun asked as he sat with them, only having heard the last part about butt kicking. Blake slapped his head over it.

"Master, remember that while kicking opponents behinds is a valid strategy, it is not the most efficient one." Saber said as she finally finished her inhuman pile of food. Everyone looked at her serious face and started laughing; leaving a confused Saber to wonder what was that funny.

…

Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha all got an arena during the random drawing. They were already inside it waiting for the start of the matches, while all the other students lined over seven of the eight arena entrances. Pyrrha's arena had no line. Nobody aside her friends believed they could defeat her, and they promised to only fight each other if the need arises. Jaune decided to wait for the second round before lining up. Of course, any student had only one hour to line up in one of the arenas, so nobody could just wait to try their hand when everyone was already tired.

"You have courage to show up here, Jauney boy." Jaune didn't turn around to look at Cardin, he just sighed while everyone else glared at the bully. "We all know you have no chance."

"Master and I could defeat thy with easy." Saber said, and Cardin laughed.

"Your doll has spunk, I admit." He said, this time Jaune turned towards him. "Come on, everyone knows she is not real, she is just an Aura construct. Though I will still win against you two."

"Funny, if I remember correctly Saber defeated you in one single attack." Ren calmly stated, but Cardin kept his cocky smile.

"She took me by surprise. And even if you manage the miracle of winning, Jauney boy, we all know it won't be by your own effort, but because you get a cute doll to fight for you." Cardin laughed and walked away, and he would get a beating if Ren didn't contained Nora, Weiss stopped Yang and Jaune held Saber.

"Let him talk, Saber. We will show him at the arena, because we are knights, and we follow the rules." He stated with a determined smile, one that Saber could only give back.

"Yes, Master. We will show him our pride as knights in combat." She said, and everyone relaxed a bit.

"Well said, Miss Saber."

They turned around to see Glynda Goodwitch approaching. Together with her was General Ironwood, some people they assumed were from the tournament committee and Penny. Ruby and Penny greeted each other, but couldn't talk as the general signalized that now wasn't the moment.

"Good morning, Mister Arc. I am General James Ironwood, of the Atlas army. I am responsible for the security of the upcoming tournament. I am also headmaster of the hunting school in Atlas." He said in a cordial if formal tone.

"Pleased to meet you, sir. Though I don't know why someone as important as you wants to talk with me." Jaune said and the general smiled.

"I am part of the committee that will approve your… partnership with Miss Saber in the tournament. I know it is quite in bad taste to allow you into the qualifiers under the risk of simple not allowing you a spot later, but I want you to understand that better do it now, than having your future victories questioned by defeated opponents later, and in public." He explained, and after a moment of silence, Jaune shrugged.

"I entered Beacon to learn how to protect people, not to win tournaments. To me this is just a new phase in my training. So I will do just my very best." Ironwood smiled at his answer, as did his friends and Miss Goodwitch.

"I wish more people understood that like you do, Mr. Arc. Good luck to you all." Ironwood left, Penny bowed and followed him, as the rest of the committee. Glynda stayed and smiled at Jaune.

"I believe you can do well, Mr. Arc." She said with a smile before leaving, Jaune blushing a little over his teacher reassurance.

…

The first round ended fast, and now his friends held five arenas, with Ren and Weiss winning their fights. What Jaune noticed is that Cardin held one of his own, originally held by Dove, a member of team CRDL. But to Saber and him, it was clear that Dove lost on purpose so Cardin could have his arena. Jaune frowned at this clear display of unsportsmanship, and got into the line towards his arena. Nobody yet challenged Pyrrha, who just spent her time reading something in her scroll (unbeknownst to anyone, she was reading fluffy romantic novels).

"Master, how thou wish to deal with that man?" Saber asked to Jaune as she stood by his side in line.

"Saber, would you believe in my victory if I fought alone?" He asked her, and Saber smile.

"Yes, Master. I believe thou can defeat that despicable man with your current ability."

"So, would you mind letting me fight this one all by myself?" He turned to her and giving a smile.

"I would like to rough this Cardin boy a little myself, but I believe thou can do it just fine, Master."

"Thanks Saber. I will not disappoint you."

…

Jaune looked at the holo-screen above the arena's entrance. Now all his friends held an arena for themselves, but Pyrrha was yet to fight. It meant that if he didn't defeat Cardin, he would have to fight a friend. So he smiled and decided if that was the case, he would go humor Pyrrha with a spar. As he entered the arena, Saber got invisible once again and he faced Cardin alone. The bigger teenager gave him a scowl.

"Where is the doll?" Jaune didn't answer. He just drew his sword and got in position, waiting the signal for starting. Cardin laughed. "Preparing some dirty tricks? Doesn't matter, I will defeat you here and prove once and for all who is the better fighter."

Jaune calmed his mind as Pyrrha and Ren teach him. No point in letting someone like Cardin getting under his skin. He needed to focus in his training and in his tactics, not in false bravado and assholery. Cardin wasn't a good fighter; he was one whose only quality was his intimidating nature and brute force. Jaune have none of it. All he had was his tactical mind and determination.

That was all he needed.

…

"Interesting. Miss Saber presence is barely detectable." Penny said to Ironwood as both watched that match from the stands.

"How so, Penny?" he questioned the artificial girl, knowing she had advanced sensors installed. If she was having difficulty detecting Saber, maybe she was a Semblance after all.

"I can point that Jaune Arc's Aura is being draw to a point in the border of the arena and nothing else." She explained, and Ironwood smiled. So there was a way to detect this Servant if needed to be. "Should I share this information with the committee?"

"No, it is sensitive military information, Penny. Though I hope even without it the committee approves the young Arc participation in the tournament." He stated to Penny, that kept looking at the fight.

"That might not be a problem." She answered, and Ironwood looked at a surprising scene at the arena.

…

Cardin charged again, trying to strike Jaune with his mace. Jaune would block and change the mace's course with his shield. Cardin then would fire its Dust rounds, making the explosion move the blonde knight, but Jaune used the inertia to spin and attack Cardin's back with Crocea Mors, then he would get farther and wait for Cardin's attack.

Rinse and repeat.

Jaune was preserving his Aura, using minimal effort to hit Cardin, chipping the bigger boy of his Aura reserves one attack at a time. Cardin would rush at Jaune like an angry bull at a _toreador_ , just to see Jaune spin and move in minimal but fast moves, and to see him using the extended reach of his new sword to hit in unprotected spots.

That was making Cardin angrier, and careless. Every attack he made was easier to Jaune to counter, and gave the knight even more openings to hit. The screens showed Cardin with half of his Aura depleted, and Jaune with 80% of it. The bully growled and activated his Semblance, his Aura involving his mace and making it look bigger and bigger. Jaune expected this. Cardin pattern was to always appeal to a one-hit-kill attack when losing. And Jaune smiled knowing his opponent had no idea that the knight already read all his moves easily.

Cardin once again rushed and moved his mace above his head, ready to strike Jaune, which just waited in a defensive pose. As soon as the bigger boy swung his mace down, Jaune jumped aside and swiped the feet of his opponent, making him lose balance. Then Jaune bashed Cardin's face with his shield, a single tooth flying of the bully's mouth as he felt in his back. Before he could recover, Jaune pressed his right foot into the fallen enemy chest, Crocea Mors hovering his eyes.

Outside, nobody could believe what happened. Jaune had a flawless victory against Cardin. The monitor declared the clumsy blonde the winner with his Aura in the green and Cardin's in the red. And that was without any interference from Saber. Pyrrha was the only one who saw the whole fight from her arena as no opponent dared to challenge her. She saw all of the battle and could not be more proud in her entire life. Jaune, her Jaune, conquered a victory all alone. She turned against the wall so the cameras couldn't show both her big smile and the tears dropping from her eyes.

...

The day dragged for Pyrrha as nobody challenged her. All she wanted was to hug her knight. Jaune on the other hand never fought so much like that day. And he was able to win every single battle, though the ones after Cardin he made certain to get Saber to help, despite usually her attacks defeating their opponents in a few swings. Despite that, almost nobody accused Jaune of cheating or of not deserving his spot, as his victory against Cardin proved his abilities. Only the bully and his team put complaints, and now all they could do was wait. Pyrrha joined her friends in the exit of the arena Jaune have being fighting, and a tired knight got out with Saber by his side. The Spartan rushed to him and hugged, her face buried in his chest so he couldn't see she was crying again.

"You did it Jaune, I knew you could..." She said, and happiness filled the knight's heart. He finally heard the person he most cared about praising him.

"It is all thanks to you, Pyr. Thanks for everything."

She didn't answered, just kept hugging him, even when Ruby, Nora and Yang hugged them too. She didn't care, she just wanted to be like this for as long as possible, and Jaune was thinking the same. They only separated when Glynda, general Ironwood and Penny approached them, and even so it took some time, to the amusement of the older duo. Penny was hovering over Saber, a curious look on her face, making the knight girl a bit wary.

"Congratulations, Mr. Arc. Your performance was a glad surprise for us all." Ms. Goodwitch stated, and Jaune blushed over the rare compliment from his combat instructor. "Congratulations to you too, Ms. Saber."

"My Master is the one who commanded us into victory." She answered, and general Ironwood laughed at it.

"Well, hope I can see this level of fighting at the tournament." Everyone turned towards the general. "The committee declared that Saber don't give you an unfair advantage, Mr. Arc, and they are eager to see more if you qualify."

"I will do my best, sir. Thanks. Thanks, Ms. Goodwitch." Jaune said and as they left, the group of friends cheered at him and Saber, pushing both knights up and down in celebration.

...

"Damn that Arc. I will defeat him, I will break him." Cardin furiously complained as he walked towards his room. "It is all the fault of that doll. If she wasn't here, if I had one like her..."

"That, I can give to you, in exchange of a favor." Cardin turned around to see a man with messy, shoulder length hair wearing clothes that reminded him of a priest. "I can give you a Servant, Mr. Winchester. One more powerful than Saber."

Cardin didn't go away. He stayed and listened to the man proposal. In his anger against Jaune Arc, he ignored all advice about getting things from strangers.

...

"Emerald, I want you to get closer to that boy, the Arc one." Cinder calmly said after the Beacon first round of qualifiers ended.

"Why? It is not like his battles were impressive or anything" the green haired girl retorted, not wanting to spend time with the awkward boy at all.

"Yeah Cinder, I could kill him with one or two kicks if needed." Mercury added.

"Can you? Now that he have that Saber girl by his side? He by himself is still harmless, but with that girl, he could be a problem, and I will not let our plans crumble because we overlooked someone."

"Fine then. But if he try to pass a move on me, he is dead." Emerald said, but Cinder smiled.

"No, I think you are safe from that. Besides, even if he proves to be not a threat combat wise, we could use him to keep the Invincible Girl in check." Cinder finished as she looked Pyrrha hugging Jaune's arm, the smile of a girl in love plastered in her face.


	5. After Battle Time

There was celebration at the Round Table that night. Everyone celebrated teams JNPRS and RWBY getting all the spots on the first qualifier. Team CFVY would try the second year qualifiers the next day. The second phase of the qualifier for the first years would be the day after that, so they would have a day to recover their energies.

Something that one Jaune Arc craved for.

He was in a beanbag, eating the biggest sandwich Pyrrha could make for him, with Saber sitting in another one by his side, also eating a monster sized sub, and Pyrrha one another, still basking in the afterglow of her partner's victories. She couldn't take her eyes of her silly knight, nor calm down on how proud she was. Jaune fought more than anyone else, and even if Saber helped, no one there considered that he passed to the next phase without deserving it.

"Ugh, every muscle hurts… Even the ones I never knew I had." He complained as he gulped another bite of his sandwich. He was glad he could just lazy around now.

"Well, you fought so much today that it was expected. Probably as your Aura recharges, you will feel better." Pyrrha reassured him, and Jaune smiled to her. That smile was all Pyrrha needed to smile back and blush, now completely unable to hide her crush on her blonde team leader.

"If we cross paths next time, I promise to give my all." Jaune said, remembering that no one dared to challenge Pyrrha. He felt a bit sorry for her, knowing she actually enjoyed the competition despite all the pressure and the feeling of being put in a different level than most people.

"As my Master said, I am also eager to try my skills against such valuable opponent as thee, Pyrrha." Saber chimed in, making Pyrrha give her an appreciative smile. Also, a small chuckle as she noticed Saber had sauce all over her mouth.

"Thanks. It is not very fun to just sit and wait." She said with a sad smile soon after, and then she brightened as Jaune wrapped his hand on her shoulder and pushed her closer.

"Don't worry, no one here will forfeit. We all will take our Invincible Girl head on." His words made her blush once again, but his gesture comforted her more than she expected. If she was alone with him right at that moment…

"It is as our Jauney said, cereal girl. I am, for one, eager to try my hand against you." Yang affirmed as she sat with them. Yang punched the air to show how serious she was. "So, Saber, what you think of Beacon students so far?"

"Well, some of thy held true talent. Others are overconfident of their abilities, and blinded by their own arrogance." Saber said as she ate a potato chip. Nobody knew how the small girl could eat that much. Some even wondered how exactly a being made of Aura took nutrition of food.

"True enough. Aww, Jauney boy slept." They turned to see that Jaune succumbed to exhaustion after finishing his sandwich. The qualifiers really took a toll on him, as he rested his head in Pyrrha's shoulder. "So, P-money, will you carry him back to your room or should I ask someone to do so. Maybe you can carry him like a princess?"

"YANG!" Pyrrha shouted and blushed. That made Jaune slips into her lap, making her blush hard. Yet she gentle caressed his hair and ignored Yang taking a picture of the duo. A sole thought crossed her head as she smiled towards the blond boy.

 _It is me that wants to be carried like a princess by him._

…

The next day was a free day, and they all slept as long as they wanted.

Well, Jaune would have if Saber didn't insist they should get up and eat breakfast. Jaune didn't had time to question how he got back to his room, so he just took a shower and put some casual clothes, as did Saber, that wore a white blouse shirt and blue skirt. They got out of the room to stumble upon Emerald. Jaune saw her a few times before, but never did more than exchange a greeting, so he found weird to meet the green-haired girl there.

"Hey there." She started, and Jaune looked around to be sure she was talking to him. "Cut it, I am talking to you, blonde. Well, blondes."

"Us? Why?" He questioned and Emerald rolled her eyes. That was going to be harder than she expected, and she wasn't someone whose patience was in good amount.

"I am going to participate in the tournament, and from all competitors, you surprised me the most. It is true that this girl is your Semblance?" She questioned looking at Saber, which frowned over the rude attitude. Saber was sure the dark-skinned girl was hiding something from them, some kind of second intention.

"You can refer to me as Saber." The knight girl affirmed, making Emerald laugh.

"I like her, she have personality. Most people here are so boring." Emerald said before setting her eyes on Jaune. Jaune gulped nervously at the predatory look Emerald was giving towards him. "So, do you mind eating breakfast together? I want to know how you improved so much in such short time. I am Emerald, by the way."

"Actually, he will have breakfast with his team." Pyrrha said as she got out of the room, standing by Jaune's side as close as possible and glaring challenging at Emerald, who could only laugh at the scene.

"Wow, your girlfriend gets really jealous, lover boy. I will talk to you again when my life is not in danger." Emerald said with a wink and she got away, leaving an angry Pyrrha and a confused Jaune. Saber, on the other hand, scoffed as the girl walked away.

"Master, do not let thy mind wander over a fair face. She will be an opponent at the tournament and might as well be trying to get some advantage over thou." Saber counseled, and Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"Even if that is not the case Jaune, I know firsthand how people with second intentions approach you over your achievements." Pyrrha reinforced, and Jaune sighed and agreed. Of course his lucky with girls would not change just because of one victory.

"Ah well, let's eat breakfast then. I just want to relax. By the way, my jacket fits you really well, Pyr. You should wear it more often."

Pyrrha finally noticed she put his yellow jacket over herself instead of her own, and blushed hard at that. She was just glad Jaune made nothing more out of it, because in her mind she could only be happy on how nice his jacket felt.

…

Relaxing at breakfast in Beacon was no easy task.

Not when your friends were the power of chaos incarnated.

Saber and Nora somehow got in a pancake eating contest, while Yang and Ruby cheered on them, and Ren just kept Nora from drenching the pancakes in syrup… And the table and everyone around. Soon that competition descended to Sun and Neptune challenging each other to each the weirdest food combinations possible, like cereal in orange juice and syrup with bits of bacon. And soon Weiss and Blake challenged each other to eat the breakfast foods they disliked the most. Now the heiress was eating a bow of Pumpkin Pete's Cereal and Blake was trying to swallow the porridge. Jaune and Pyrrha just watched amused by their friends' determination in punishing themselves.

"Why we are all friends again?" Jaune asked Pyrrha as he drunk his orange juice.

"I am pretty sure being chased around by a giant Nevermore and an angry Deathstalker work wonders in bonding people." Pyrrha answered and Jaune laughed. Those turned to be dear memories for everyone there.

"Well, I think pinning me to a three worked better for us." His answer made Pyrrha blush shyly, and then she became incredible red as she felt his hand over hers. She looked at Jaune's eyes and got lost on his ocean blue eyes for a few seconds before the moment was ruined by both Sun and Neptune gagging on their last concoction, mashed bananas with bacon, chocolate syrup and beans.

The duo started laughing at them heartily, but Pyrrha desired nothing more than spending time alone with Jaune.

…

Pyrrha tapped her javelin, wondering if Jaune would be mad if she pinned him once again in a tree. Maybe that would make him realize how she felt. Since his victory during the qualifiers, it seemed that many of the opinions around him changed, and now some girls were openly flirting with him. She was happy that he was dismissing those advances, but feared any of them would dare to make a more forward move on him.

 _You all don't know him as I do. You are just over him know that he show you what he can do. I am with him since the beginning and I know the kind, sweet knight he is._

"Don't worry, Master will not succumb to these women." Saber said to Pyrrha, breaking her line of thought.

"S-Saber?" Pyrrha blushed madly as Saber smiled. For some reason the girl knight knew how to read the Spartan easily.

"Pyrrha, thou have nothing to worry. Master does not seek a passing pleasure. The way he looks at thee he does not to anyone else." The affirmation made Pyrrha blush even harder, as she never noticed any hint that Jaune felt for her how she feels for him. Maybe it was time for her to stop waiting him to take the initiative and for her to jump in action.

"Wait, where is Jaune?"

…

Jaune was taken away by Emerald while Saber and Pyrrha talked to each other; the girl held his arm and took him into one of the empty classrooms. She forcefully made him sit in one of the chairs and sat in front of him, smiling mischievously. Jaune looked around certain that he was in one of those pranks people do on TV. The green haired girl snapped his fingers to get his attention.

"So, now that I got you away of your body guards, we can get to know each other better." She said in a sultry voice that made Jaune blush. He could be oblivious, but Emerald was being very clear about her intentions.

"Well, uh, why don't you start?" Jaune's question confused Emerald a bit. Nobody ever showed any interest in knowing her. Even Cinder and Mercury just took her at face value. But she had no time to waste into chit-chat, nor did she want to share anything with the dork in front of her. She had a mission to accomplish.

"No, no. You start. How about we start with how you defeated that Winchester boy the other day. Did you use your Semblance?" She whispered in his ear, making Jaune wiggle a bit. The reaction made Emerald smile.

"Saber? No, she waited as I fought." He answered, now relaxing a bit. Apparently Emerald was just curious about his performance, though even he admitted that when looking at it again wasn't that impressive. He just wished she used more normal ways to talk with him.

"How that works? Is she like a marionette of sorts?" Jaune disliked hearing someone referring to Saber like that, especially when she could laugh; get angry and even a bit sad from time to time.

"No, Saber is completely independent of my will. She has her own feelings and desires." He answered, surprising Emerald on how he let his annoyance over it clear. She grinned, realizing the boy had a bit of spine.

"Woah, it seems you too are really close, eh?" She questioned, trying to get her composure back. "Are you and cereal girl as close too?"

"We are friends, after all. And teammates and partners."

"Just that? Cereal girl got pretty jealous of you."

Jaune thought about that more than expected. Certainly he considered Pyrrha a friend, but just friends? He wondered about it. She did for him more than any friend, even Ruby, and he was forever grateful for it. She always made his day better doing little things like a smile, a gentle pat, a word of encouragement. He remembered how happy she was after his victory against Cardin, to the point of crying in his chest. He knew Pyrrha was more than a friend to him, but now he wondered if she felt the same.

"Hey, blondie!" Emerald snapped him from his thoughts and he looked at her eyes. Red eyes looked deeply into blue eyes and Emerald wondered why she felt weird. There was certain innocence in Jaune's eyes that she didn't expect from someone her age. She shook it off and decided to tease him a little. So she sat on his lap and embraced his neck, making him blush and put his own hands back. "If you and cereal girl aren't an item, how about you took me to a date?

"Uh?" Jaune couldn't wrap his mind over how all that talk ended up with him getting invited to a date. Emerald had an evil grin in her face.

"I suggest you let go of my Master."

Jaune saw Saber and Pyrrha at the door, both looking unhappy at them, and the boy realized the compromising position he was, with Emerald still in his lap. He suddenly got up, sending Emerald to the ground, than he tried to help her back at her feet. After a few awkward touches and stares they were back up and looking at Pyrrha and Saber.

"Glad to see you got an admirer, Jaune." Pyrrha said before storming off the room, Jaune stood there perplexed for a second.

"Wait, Pyrrha!" He ran after her. Emerald laughed and walked to the door, but Saber blocked her.

"I warn thee, do not toy with my Master and his friends if thou value thee health." Emerald just showed her tongue to Saber.

"You are no boss of me, pretty face." Emerald said as she left. Saber sighed and decided to be extra careful with that girl. Something was really fish about her.

…

"Pyrrha!"

The Spartan knew exactly why she was angry. She was jealous, and she felt in the right to be. She knew that sooner or later other girls would realize the great person Jaune was, but even so she expected to finally be dating him when that happened. Now it was clear she was taking too long, too slowly. She knew Jaune was no skirt chaser, but she feared one girl would take her knight from her if she just waited for him.

"Pyrrha, wait!" She stopped as he held her gently by her arm and turned around. He was taking his breath and she waited. She smiled at the irony of waiting now. "Pyr, I know what that looked like, and I am sorry, I should have resisted. I swear there is nothing between Emerald and me."

"And why not go for it, she is pretty." Pyrrha answered in a tone even she disapproved. That was not like her at all. But she needed to be reassured by Jaune right now.

"Pyr, please. Don't be like that. I barely know anything about Emerald. You know being pretty is not enough to sway me. I am not even thinking about such stuff with all that is happening. First Saber, now the tournament. All I know is that I can't have you angry at me. You are too important to me."

Pyrrha felt all her jealousy and anger slip away as she heard those words. Of course she could count with Jaune to make her feel silly. Emerald was all over him, but she could see how uncomfortable she made him. And he didn't hesitate to go after her despite her show of jealousy. He didn't put the blame on Emerald either; he assumed the fault of something wasn't his fault. Pyrrha felt herself blushing as she stared into his blue eyes. She finally sighed and smiled again.

"Sorry Jaune, I don't know why I did that." She finally spoke, and he smiled before gently hugging her, Pyrrha seeing fireworks on her mind as she hugged him back.

"Thank heavens. I can't live without you, Pyr."

Pyrrha squeezed him hard as he told her that, her face hot and red. She could only try to get around that sentence and its meaning. She was about to ask what he meant by that when someone coughed to get their attention. They separated to see Ms. Goodwitch staring at the duo with a stern gaze.

"I would like to remind you two to avoid certain acts of affection in the halls." She said, and both blushed madly, soon to be joined by Saber, that wondered why the duo was so flustered. "Now excuse me."

Pyrrha and Jaune waited to the teacher to be out of sight before laughing together. The redhead lamented they weren't somewhere more private so she could confess her true feelings for Jaune. Soon Saber joined them, and looked curiously at the duo, not understanding why they were in such good mood. Then all of sudden Jaune locked his arms with hers and Pyrrha, surprising both.

"Jaune!"

"Master?"

"Come on, let's go to the club and relax a little. I will make you girls a sundae." He said, and Pyrrha relaxed and smiled, hugging his arm. She would have another chance to confess. Now all she wanted was to enjoy his company.

"That sounds grand, Jaune."

"Hm! Thy talents as a cook is unrivaled, Master!" Saber agreed, and as the trio walked towards their club, many stared at them enviously.

…

Blake was relaxing in the secluded spot she created in the club's library, using the shelves arrangement to create a secret space behind one of them that only someone with agility similar to her could reach. She sat at the beanbag she snuck there and happily read _Ninjas of Love: Shurikens of Passion_ as a way to get her mind off the tournament. She didn't care much who she would fight the next day, she would just do her best.

As she was reading, she saw a cockroach in the wall, and slowly reached for her weapon. Blake didn't have any particular fear or get grossed out about bugs. No sir, that didn't affect at all, she just would make sure to make that particular bug an example to all of its kind to never get closer her ever again.

Blake slashed Gambol Shroud against the bug, cutting the bug and the wall behind it in two parts. As the two thin stone slabs felt, she found an old book hidden behind it. Carefully she took it on her hands and blew the dust off, revealing its title. She arched her eyebrows in surprise and had to suppress a squeal out of her mouth.

 _The Holy Grail and Summoning Heroic Spirits_.

…

"I am telling you, that guy is probably the most naïve guy I ever met. I was all over him and he didn't even take a feel!" Emerald was complaining to Mercury, which was laughing at his partner misfortune.

"Maybe he is into guys? Maybe I should try next time?"

"Oh, the hard thing he had in his pants tells me he likes girls alright. He is either too cowardly or too nice to actually do something." Emerald said, and Mercury laughed. She was way too angry for something so trivial.

"You are just unhappy you got rejected."

"Oh shut up, I didn't get rejected! His bodyguards take him away!" Mercury laughed harder at this. It was precious to him seeing Emerald, which rejected her mission so vehemently at first getting so worked up. "You will see, I will make that Arc boy spill all his dirty secrets to me in no time!"

"I think the only dirty secret you will get from him is that he peed his bed till he was eleven." Emerald growled against Mercury and stomped away, giving his partner another fit of laughing.

…

"So, when you will get me a Servant so I can show to Jauney boy what happens to those that mess up with me?" Cardin questioned the man that offered him a chance to exact revenge.

"Patience, Mr. Winchester. Summoning a Servant involves the right place and the right time. You don't want to be stuck with a weak Servant, and I am sure I can provide you the best one possible in the due time.

"You better be, Kotomine. It is your butt that I will kick if you are lying to me." Cardin said before leaving, Kotomine Kirei laughing at to himself.

"There are always a power hungry fool. This shall provide some entertainment for you, Archer." The hidden Servant only smiled for himself, seeing how foolish lowly people could be, like children getting into a mess over their favorite dessert.


	6. Declaration of Love

It was finally the day for the last qualifier battles for the first year students. Coco and her team dominated the second year qualifiers, and everyone was surprised when Velvet defeated many opponents despite yet to use her weapon. Now it was time to discover who would be each other's opponents in the first year. This time the bleachers were filled with people, from students from the other schools, family members and reporters to staff and Beacon students.

All of that only served to make Jaune more nervous. This time he didn't had the advantage of people not knowing his and Saber's abilities, and his opponents were way better warriors than the ones they fought the other day. Both saber and Pyrrha tried to make him relax, but now that he got so far, he wanted to win. But at the same time, he felt the conflict of not wanting his great friends to lose.

"Jaune, that is how it is." Pyrrha reassured him, gently holding his hands with hers. "We will give our best to win, so we all can only ask of you the same."

"Pyrrha is right, Master. If you don't give your best shot, I won't be able to give mine." Jaune smiled at both girls and sighed once again, now making a real effort to get those thoughts out of his head.

"I promised you both I would do my best. And an Arc never goes back with his word." He reassured them and both girls once again felt proud of his attitude.

"Aww, aren't you cute?" They all looked at Emerald, Jaune with a worried look while Pyrrha and Saber with murder intent. Emerald laughed at the scene. "Oh my, what possessive fangirls! Jealous of little me! Don't worry, this time I just came to wish good luck to our blonde knight. I will do nice things another time. When your fangirls aren't around."

She winked at Jaune and walked away, her hips swaying more than normal. Pyrrha barely could hide her jealousy; while Saber still thought something was wrong with the way emerald approached her Master. They didn't have time to talk about it as Ozpin took the stage, followed by Ms. Goodwitch. The big holo-screens showed the eight students from Beacon that would now dispute the sole four spots at the tournament.

"Welcome all to the last qualifier for the first year students. Competition help hone skills, and that is why our students fight at the Vytal Tournament. I hope to see a good show of both skill and sportsmanship. Now, today we will see one on one battles between the eight students that were able to pass the first round. And the battles will be…" Ozpin looked up, as did everyone else as the panel shuffled the students' pictures.

Pyrrha Vs Ruby.

The two redheads nodded at each other and mouthed a good luck wish.

Nora Vs Weiss.

The duo shared a challenging glare between them.

Ren Vs Yang.

Yang only smiled, the same for Ren. It would be an interesting battle considering their fighting styles, power Vs technique.

Jaune Vs Blake.

Jaune's picture had a small picture of Saber within it, something Jaune asked for. The boy almost had forgotten Blake could be an opponent, the same as the catgirl. They looked at each other and smiled in acknowledgement. Jaune saw Blake fighting rarely, so he was worried and already thinking of strategies, the only thing he was good enough to be proud of. He didn't want to rely purely on Saber's skills, because that would not be enough for his own ego. He then left a sigh out.

"Come on Jaune, don't worry, you will do great, I am sure of it." Pyrrha once again reassured him, and Jaune gently held her hand.

"Yeah. Now, go on and do your best, partner. I promise I will too,"

"And an Arc never goes back with his word." She said before giving him a quick kiss in the cheek. "For good luck."

Jaune was left speechless, while Saber just smiled happily. They missed the happy blush the Spartan had as she entered the arena for her fight.

…

If anyone expected boring battles, they were disappointed.

Pyrrha and Ruby got at it first, and despite the smaller girl being younger, she held a fight on equal footing for most of the time. But Pyrrha had the experience and her semblance was especially effective against Ruby's Crescent Rose and the weapon's over use of magnetic metal. Despite her speed granting Ruby a few hits, it wasn't enough to defeat the Spartan, that finished the fight by using her polarity to force Ruby in striking the ground too hard, and as the younger girl tried to get the weapon free, Pyrrha finished with a shield throw and a bit too many apologies and the promise of fresh baked cookies. So Ruby smiled despite her defeat.

Nora surprised everyone by putting Weiss in a pinch. Team JNPR knew their heavy hitter wasn't stupid, and in fact all her movements were carefully planned. Sadly, they were carefully planned to be as flashy as possible and once Weiss perceived it she used it to her advantage. A few well positioned glyphs and the use of her ice Dust trapped Nora long enough for Weiss gracefully wins with a few hits.

Ren and Yang had the longest, most epic battle. Ren was a master of defense, and he blocked almost everything Yang threw at him. But even her light punches were hard as a train hitting you, so that was draining Ren's Aura. Ren was able to get many hits of his own, that putting things in an even field until Yang activated her own Semblance. That was the problem of fighting Yang, the more you hit her, the stronger she hit back. If her light punches were being hitting by a train, her heavy punches were like being hit by a cruise ship dropped on you from the tallest tower of Beacon. Ren learned that being hit by Yang when she used her Semblance was like being hit by a cruise ship filled with trains dropped from orbit. Yang won by KO, but she also was dead tired and almost in the red on Aura after that victory.

Now it was finally Jaune's turn, and to his surprised everyone was eager to see what he and Saber could do against a high level opponent. Jaune groaned as he walked towards the arena. Seeing his friends fighting made him realize that his victory against Cardin really didn't meant that much. They were leagues ahead of Cardin, damn, Pyrrha defeated the whole team CRDL without dropping a sweat. If Jaune didn't had Saber by his side, even if he somehow managed to qualify, he would never win against any of his friends. But Saber was there, with a determined look on her face, and he smiled. They were right, she was his Semblance, and therefore he would not beat himself over it.

"Saber, let's show them what we can do."

"Certainly, Master. But art thou sure thou do not wish me to use my secret weapon?" She asked as they entered the arena. There was a big ovation from the bleachers, but both ignored it.

"Nah. Let's save it for the Grimm. Besides, I believe we can win if we stick with the plan."

"Certainly." She finished with a proud smile.

Blake wasn't that confident. Surely she could defeat Jaune with easy if he was fighting alone, but she knew Saber didn't use the full extent of her abilities yet. But the Faunus girl also knew many people fought against the duo in the wrong way. Most concentrated in defeating Saber, ignoring Jaune. They didn't need to defeat Saber. Saber is classified as an Aura construct. All she needed to do was to defeat the Master, not the servant, and that she could do.

She stood in the middle of the arena and analyzed Jaune. She expected him to be nervous, but he was quite calm. They exchanged smiles and Blake almost felt sorry she would have to fight him, as he was always nice to her, even after Weiss told them of her heritage at her request. But Blake wanted to win that tournament. It could be a turning point if a Faunus won that. She broke her line of thought as Ms. Goodwitch finished revising the rules.

"Good luck, Jaune." Blake said as she shook his hands.

"You too, kitty cat." He answered with a wink and a smile, leaving Blake baffled. Jaune never hit on her, and now of all times he decided…

 _Brilliant little devil! He tried to throw me off with that!_

Blake now understood why he was a tactical genius. He started fighting the qualifier already, and tried to break her concentration, and she smiled because it almost worked. She took a heavy breath and readied herself, watching as both Saber and Jaune got ready, though Saber still kept her sword invisible. They waited before they heard Ms. Goodwicth voice telling them to start.

 _Fast!_

Blake blocked saber's attack and felt how strong they were before she leapt over the blonde girl and rushed against Jaune. She was faster than Saber, and she would use it to hit Jaune as much as possible before the knight girl could interfere. But the knight boy already expected that and Blake first attack met his shield. Blake understood now why Weiss told her to remember that Jaune was bigger than her. Blake's attacks were about precision and not strength, and her attack did nothing to move Jaune and his shield.

Blake created a shadow and jumped out of the way as both Jaune and Pyrrha swung their sword in the position she was. She couldn't win with muscles. Jaune had huge reserves of Aura, even considering Saber was constantly draining it. And with his shield and training, Blake needed to use a more varied combination of moves.

She changed her weapon to gun mode and fired at Saber and Jaune, forcing Jaune behind his shield and Saber to dodge. Blake returned the sword to its blade form and drew the bladed sheath, exchanging a dew blows with the Servant before using her shadows against her. Saber dispelled the shadows only to realize Blake once again moved against Jaune, shooting her gun and forcing him behind his shield. She jumped over him and tried to hit, but Jaune quickly spun around and blocked with his sword, and forced her to back away again.

 _He is also stronger than I expected._

Everyone looking at the battle had the impression that Blake was in the advantage as she was the only one landing hits. But Pyrrha smiled at that. She knew what Jaune was trying to do, something he would usually do with the Grimm. He was setting a trap.

With her options getting limited, Blake decided to play dirty. She shot at Saber to keep the girl at bay, and using the ribbon on her sword to trap Jaune's feet, which she succeeded, but when she pulled in an attempt to trip him, nothing happened. She noticed that Jaune pinned down the ribbon with his sword and was smiling at her. She looked surprised and detached the ribbon, in time to block Saber's new barrage of slashes.

The fight all of sudden seemed way more balanced than before, as now Jaune got himself out of the ribbon and rushed towards the Faunus girl. She used her shadows once again to escape the dual attack, and this time she landed a few hits against Jaune, making him lose his balance and fall. It was her chance, and she jumped at the boy to attempt to finish that fight, but Saber blocked the attack and launched her sideways. Blake feline nature helped her recover the balance.

 _Saber is even stronger than Jaune!_

Now both Jaune and Saber rushed against her. Blake threw her sword-sheath at Jaune, which deflected it with his shield. Blake ran towards him and slid to avoid Saber's sword, using the same motion to hit Jaune's leg and tripping him. In a flash she got up and put her fott on the boy's chest, sword near his throat.

"Yield?" she asked, but Jaune smiled.

"Better you ask Saber about that, kitty cat."

Saber attacked with a thrust, that Blake avoided, but when she tried to jump far from them she fell. As she looked at what held her, she saw that Jaune used her discarded ribbon to tie her leg while she asked him to yield. Before she could do anything about it both Saber and him were above her, pointing their swords at her, now Saber's sword fully visible.

"Yield?" They both asked, and Blake sighed. She couldn't escape that situation, not without having to hurt herself and her friends.

 _This is why we have partners…_

"Yeah, I yield." She answered as Jaune offered his hand and she got up. Ms. Goodwitch ended the match and there were a round of applauses from the bleachers. When they all left the arena, Pyrrha almost tackled Jaune to the ground with her hug. Jaune smiled and hugged her back, while Yang and Ruby tried to comfort Blake.

…

"Now, Mercury, you still think that Arc boy is irrelevant?" Cinder asked as they walked away from the Arena.

"I think that Blake girl that Adam is so adamant in not hurting is not as good as he made it be." Mercury said still trying to belittle Jaune and Saber.

"Don't be dumb, Mercury. All of that fight was clearly into blondie's hand. Every attack and movement Blake threw was perfectly countered by Saber and him. He might not be a good warrior alone, but put some skilled people under his command, and he will be a headache." Emerald countered, now really impressed at the fight.

"And this is a headache I don't want. Emerald, try to seduce him, make the level of trust his friends have for him go down. A leader is only as good as the people that follow him." Cinder ordered, and Emerald nodded.

…

Thankfully Ozpin final speech was as short as the first one. Pyrrha, Weiss, Yang and Jaune, with Saber near him, were going to represent Beacon at the Vytal Tournament in two weeks, to the young knight surprise. He never expected to be able to, now he was going to have to try even harder for it. He was glad he still had two weeks to train, but he knew each battle would be harder.

Meeting everyone was what to be expected. Pyrrha received a lot of praise, and everyone said she was the favorite to win. Weiss and Yang also received their fair share of victory wishes, but Jaune and Saber were kind of ignored. Aside their usual friends and a few girls that became fan of him, most students still had trouble accepting his victory. It was OK at first, but now they felt Jaune had an unfair advantage, no matter if the tournament commission accepted Saber as a Semblance. The boy mostly ignored the stares, already used to the mocking stares, so these new jealousy ones were nothing he couldn't write off.

"Congratulations on your victory. I am eager to see more of it in the tournament."

As Jaune turned around to answer the voice that said the compliment he felt a pair of hands grabbing his collar and lips meeting his. With his eyes wide open he saw Emerald kissing him, and tried his best to get away from her without having to hurt her, so all he could do is try to move back and flail his arms. His friends looked aghast at the scene and it was only when Pyrrha used her Semblance to force Emerald away that the boy could breathe.

"It seems your fangirls won't allow little me have some little fun. I will see you around, Jauney." Emerald winked and sensually walked away, Jaune blushing and turned around to see the surprised looks on his friends' faces, but especially the sad eyes Pyrrha cast upon him.

"Congratulations on getting an admirer, fearless leader." She said as she almost ran away. Jaune took a second to realize what happened before rushing after her, the clear sensation of déjà vu.

"Well, that was a thing." Yang said as they looked the pair walking away.

…

 _Why I am letting that girl getting under my skin like that? Jaune clearly didn't want that kiss and tried his best to get out of it, but his gentlemanly nature made it impossible to do so without pushing her. I can trust him, so why I am so angry? It is because I am not his girlfriend, so he is free to go with anyone he wants… Why can't he want me?"_

Pyrrha kept walked aimless, absorbed in her thoughts. It took her to almost hit a wall to finally stop long enough to Jaune reach her. He grabbed her arm gently and turned her around, giving her a surprising but warm hug. The redhead eyes once again were wide open. He once again chased her. Why she couldn't just trust him as she was supposed to as his partner? She hugged him back and hid her face on his shoulder.

"Please, tell me we will not have to do this every time some girl I don't know try a stunt like that…" he said, and Pyrrha felt tears flowing from her eyes.

"I am sorry Jaune, I don't know what got into me…" She said as she tried to suppress those tears.

"Pyrrha… there is only one girl I want to kiss me… and it is you…" Pyrrha eyes were wide open once again. Did she heard right or was her mind playing tricks with her? "I was hoping to tell you this only after the tournament, maybe after my first victory on combat class. But things have being so chaotic that I didn't wanted to distract you with the tournament coming. Pyr, I am in love with you, I have being for some time know."

"Jaune…" She looked deep into his eyes and caressed his face. There were no lies in his eyes, in the way he looked at her. More tears flow out of her eyes as she heard the words she wanted for so long. "I have being in love with you for so long. When we met I knew we could be real friends, which you would not hang out with me due to my status. But when you confided me and we started training, I realized that I was in love with you at first sight. That the reason I actively tried to be your partner was because somehow I knew you would be the one person that would love Pyrrha the girl, not Pyrrha the star."

"Eh. Why we are wasting our time talking?"

Jaune kissed Pyrrha, and the girl kissed back. That felt fantastic, and she felt that every single cloud in her mind was swept away by that single gesture. Now they were more than partners, and she loved feeling like that. She had no more reason to fear, no more reason to be nervous, no more reason to hide how she really felt. Jaune felt like someone gave him a reward for a good deed he never noticed he did. Now it was his time to be afraid. Pyrrha was fantastic on his eyes, and he was just he. He needed to do his best, maybe even more than that to deserve the love Pyrrha gave him.

"So, do we tell them?" Jaune said referencing his friends, as finally they broke the kiss, which felt too short for both of them despite the lack of air. Pyrrha had a grin in her face, no more tears coming from her dazzling green eyes.

"Let them in the dark for a while. I want you all for me. I waited way too long for this." Pyrrha said kissing Jaune again. The boy could only think of one thing.

 _Well, it seems I somehow got into a relationship with the most perfect girl ever. Now what?_

…

Blake sat at her secluded spot at the club's library. She sighed at her defeat, and wondered what her mistakes were. Certainly she had a chance in defeating Saber. She was sure that she still could easily defeat Jaune. But the duo was close to impossible to be defeated. The way they coordinated so easily, how they countered every maneuver against her, how Jaune improvised in the middle of the battle against her.

 _That is why we have partners._

She realized that Jaune was not the weak link in that chain. He was part of a whole, that with him any team, any partner would perform better. And with hat thought she grabbed the book she found the other day. If that book told the truth she too could have a servant, someone that would always be by her side.

She regretted that last thought. Yang was always there for her, as it was Ruby and even Weiss despite their rock start. Even team JNPRS was made of people that she could count on. But every news of the white Fang acting violently and the Faunus hate on the rise made her fear for herself and for her people. She needed all the help she could use.

"The book says the ritual need to be done at full moon days. Saber was summoned in a full moon. It is worth a shot. The next full moon is just rightly before the tournament."

With a decision made, she once again read the mysterious book she found.

…

"Tch…" Cardin grunted dissatisfied as he checked the battles in his scroll. Jaune Arc was a Beacon representative while he was there dealing with Kirei. He couldn't wait more to have his sweet revenge against everyone that dared to humiliate him. Starting with Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos.

"Good news, Mr. Winchester. Your servant will be here just in time to the tournament." Kirei said as he finished writing something in one of the weird books he had around his lair. Cardin just had an evil smile in his face.


	7. (Un)forgotten Past

With two weeks between then and the Tournament, teams RWBY and JNPRS decided to use their first free day after the qualifiers to relax. Saber in especial was excited to visit the city as she had few chances to do so since she was summoned. She was wearing a beautiful new blue dress Weiss acquired for her and a straw hat, and she starry eyed every new thing she saw.

Jaune and Pyrrha kept from their friends they were finally properly together, a bit because after so long they just wanted to enjoy themselves without all the teasing and nagging they expected to receive. Jaune only told Saber because the Servant bluntly stated she could read his mind, a lie, but one she used to discover why his Master was unusually nervous. Pyrrha told no one, though both Blake and Nora noticed her attitude changed and that she was way more relaxed, and that she and Jaune were more eager to do things like hugging and hand holding.

Everyone else was clueless, even Yang, and they just assumed that Jaune was reassuring his partner after the Emerald debacle, something that Jaune was still being teased about, and he decided that he could withstand that just so he could enjoy his love with Pyrrha. But at that moment they where inside a small cake shop, and Saber was drooling over all the variety of cakes they had.

"Master, I want one of each!" Her childish claim made everyone laugh for a bit.

"I think that is not healthy… Can you even get sick to begin with?" Jaune honestly wondered but Saber ignored him as she drooled on the cakes once again.

"Let her indulge today, Arc. She certain deserves it." Weiss said, since she offered to pay the bill anyway, happy she qualified to the tournament and a happy Weiss was a very generous Weiss.

"Oh, they have so many different strawberry cakes! I want one of each!" Ruby said doing the same face Saber was. Weiss sighed, but indulged on her partners wish, just hoping she would not regret it.

"You can become sick, Ruby." Weiss spoke, but she also had a few slices of different cakes.

"Which cake do you want, Blakey?" Yang asked her partner, that looked very absent minded at that moment. Yang noticed that Blake was like that since the day before. "Blake, please tell me we won't have to deal with all the shit we had to deal with that time before the dance?"

"What? Oh, no sorry. I swear it is nothing like that." Blake tried her best to reassure Yang, but the blonde girl kept looking at her doubtfully. Blake sighed and smiled. "Yang, I am not overdoing myself. It is just I found something interesting that I will show you all when the time is right."

"Oh hoho, that sounded like you found that special someone! So, who is it?"

"Yang, cut it! It has nothing to do with my love life. All I can say it is… a new fighting technique I am developing." Blake felt terrible guilty for hiding it, but she convinced herself that was the right thing to do. She didn't want to create a commotion before she could be sure that the book about Servants she found was true.

They sat and talked freely about small things, while both Ruby and Saber stuffed their faces with cake, to the admiration of the onlookers. Nora started telling one of her dreams and they laughed when she tried to mimic one of the maneuvers she used on it just to send cake flying all over Jaune's face. Pyrrha happily helped him to clean up.

After the cake, they did a shopping trip, and this became very interesting to the girls as they chose a target. Before she could protest, Saber was dragged to a clothes store where each girl started dressing Saber on the outfits of their preference, while Ren and Jaune laughed at the flustered knight girl.

Weiss and Ruby insisted that the gothic lolita style fit Saber as a glove. Yang chose the smallest mini-dress she could find with a pair of white stockings, for which Saber vehemently protested against. Pyrrha choose some casual clothes, a combination of t-shirt, shorts and a jacket, to which Saber took a liking. Nora put Saber in the girliest dress she could find, and despite protesting openly, Saber also liked that dress. In the end Weiss presented the girl with all the clothes they chose, and now was fending off everyone from her team wanting something.

"Well, it seems Saber will have clothes for a lifetime now." Pyrrha commented with Jaune, which laughed at that.

"You talk like women ever have enough clothes." He joked and she puffed her cheeks in fake indignation.

"I will let you know that not all women are fond of clothes that much." Jaune then showed her a beautiful golden and red ribbon he bought for her.

"So, I think I should return this…" Pyrrha immediately snapped the ribbon from his hands.

"I didn't say that. Thanks." She mouthed a silent 'I love you' and put the ribbon on her ponytail. Jaune could only return a sheepishly smile.

Their next stop was the arcade, where they discovered Saber sucked at games despite her great skill with a sword. Her pride was the only thing that kept her playing. On the other hand, Ren proved to be undefeatable on the dancing machines, while Jaune was a master on racing games.

"So, what is our next stop? I suggest that new café near the port." Ruby said as they left the arcades.

"Really? You ate enough cake to last a week, Ruby. Could we at least choose a place without food?" Weiss complained, and Ruby pouted.

"I would not mind more cake. What do thou think, Master? Master?" They looked around and discovered Jaune was nowhere to be seeing. And then they looked at Pyrrha giving the most threatening smile they never knew she could do.

"I swear to heavens, if I found out that Emerald has anything to do with this, I will kill her." She said in a low tone as she grabbed her spear. Ruby gently held her back.

"Maybe he is just in the bathroom?" the younger girl suggested, trying to avoid her friend to turn into a murderer.

"Master is this way." Saber spoke and started walk as the rest of the group followed her.

"How do you even know?" Weiss asked as they rushed beside the knight girl.

"A Servant shares a bond with his Master, so I know where Master is all the time."

"I am pretty sure P-money here wants one of those, eh?" Yang was ignored, but Pyrrha certainly thought to herself she wanted it.

…

Jaune never considered himself a ladies' man, in reality. Sure he tried to play the role when he started at Beacon, but he only ever chased Weiss before giving up after the dance. And now that he was with Pyrrha, the last thing he wanted was girls all over him. So he wasn't very happy with his current predicament.

Emerald grabbed him from the arcade when they were leaving and took him to an alley. She was incredible strong for a girl as small and thin as her, Jaune thought, but then, all girls he know fit that type except for Yang. She was being very grab-happy, while Jaune tried his hardest to keep her hands off him. It made harder because of how revealing her battle clothes were.

"Come on, Jauney, I want to play!" Emerald said in a very seductive tone, her lips very close to his face, making him blush.

"Emerald, you are really beautiful and attractive, but I am in love with another girl and we can't do this." He said, looking up so she couldn't reach his face easily. Emerald laughed at that.

"This has nothing to do with love, honey. I just want fun."

That made Jaune sighs hard and he grabbed her wrists with more strength, but not enough to hurt her. Emerald saw herself surprised at the grip, and Jaune put her hands down and gave her a very concerned look, one that made her blush slightly.

"Emerald, please, don't do this. Not only for me but for you. I don't know why you are doing this, but I know you have no feelings for me. I can see you aren't a bad person, but I have someone I deeply care about and I will not betray her trust." Emerald looked at his serious face and backed away before cracking up a laugh, making Jaune look at her surprised.

"Me, a good girl? You really are naïve." She said as she rested her back on the opposite wall. "If you keep being like that, you will end up getting hurt, blondie."

"Maybe, but better me getting hurt than the people I care about."

"Wow, that was so cheesy! The world is not made of unicorns and fairies, blondie." She teased as she stopped laughing. Jaune smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, it is not. You had a really rough childhood, don't you?" Emerald smile disappeared completely, now a scowl and a disapproving glare against Jaune.

"You know nothing, Jaune Arc."

"Yep, I don't. I know almost nothing about you, Emerald, one of the reasons I won't 'play' with you." Jaune approached her and grabbed her left arm, pushing the accessory she used there down a little, revealing an old burn mark, clearly made by a cigarette. "But I had to deal with bullies my whole life, and many of them came from less than ideal homes."

Emerald got away from him and hid the mark, feeling angry with herself for allowing Jaune to see that. Yes, she had a rough childhood, but Cinder gave her a place away from her abusive uncle and aunt, from a life of petty crime just to have something to eat. She didn't need that boy's compassion. She didn't want it.

"Look, I will not even pretend I know what you have gone through, but everyone could use a friend if you want one."

"A knight in shiny armor to the end, eh, blondie? One day someone will use your kindness against you."

"Probably, but I won't regret my kindness, nor I see it as a weakness." Jaune confidently said, and Emerald started walking away. Then she stopped and sighed, tossing something to Jaune, the knight grabbing it in the air. To his surprise it was his wallet.

"No good actions go unrewarded, blondie." She said finally walking away. Soon Jaune's friends appeared, and he looked as Pyrrha gave him an angry stare very unusual for her. He sighed and smiled at them.

"Jaune, why are you here?" Ruby asked looking at the empty alley.

"I got lost." He lied, something that both Saber and Pyrrha noticed. He looked at them and signaled he would explain later.

"Why I am not surprised. Come on, you dunce! We have all the day to enjoy somewhere that isn't a dump!" Weiss spun on her heels and walked away, soon followed by the rest of them, Pyrrha and Saber now holding Jaune by his arms. Jaune just left a defeated sigh.

…

"I will kill her." Pyrrha told Jaune as they were apart from their friends in a big department store. Jaune told the truth to both her and Saber, and now he learned Pyrrha was able to give a murderous look as threatening as his sisters.

"We are murdering no one. Pyr, please, let it go. I think she might stop now that we talked." Jaune pleaded while holding her hands, but Pyrrha's face remained unchanged.

"Jaune, I love and trust you. I know you have no intention of allowing that green haired thief have her way with you. But I waited far too long for us to be together, and I will not allow any girl even think that they can take you from me." She said, and Jaune felt a bit too happy about it. But he would not allow his girlfriend to do anything she could regret later.

"Pyr, I don't want to spend our time together worrying about other people. I want to spend time being with you." He said and immediately Pyrrha's face mellowed. She hugged him and relaxed in his arms.

"Even so, Master, I am worrying about what that Emerald girl might want. This looks like a lot of work just to mess with an opponent before a tournament." She wondered, and Jaune dismissed the thought immediately.

"Emerald colors me as someone that had a rough childhood. She probably believes that everything goes to achieve her objectives. But… You never failed me before, Saber, so I will be grateful if you keep an eye for anything suspicious she or her team might try. She will probably return back to her home after the tournament anyway."

"I am still unhappy, Jaune Arc." Pyrrha said, making a fake angry face. Jaune kissed her quickly.

"So, how about we go on a date, just the two of us tomorrow, Pyrrha Nikos."

"That sounds grand." She couldn't hold her smile back, her first proper date with Jaune.

"Saber, would you mind keeping our friends busy tomorrow. I don't want any of them prying on it, and we all know they will if they can." Saber giggled at the thought, knowing it to be very true.

"Thou can always count on me, Master."

…

Emerald was angry, and she spent the rest of the day pick pocketing people. It was not out of the money, but it was how she used to get the stress out of her. She couldn't believe she let Jaune Arc of all people get to her. He was the exact opposite of her, having grown in a loving family, surrounded by friends, a heart of gold and an optimistic view of life and people.

He had no idea what it felt like to be left behind by your mother into the house of relatives that saw you as less than a dog, to have to steal food because they didn't give you enough, or sometimes at all. Jaune Arc had no idea how it felt to run away from home when you were just nine years old because your uncle burned you with a cigarette and you stabbed his leg with a kitchen knife. He had no idea how awful was living in the streets fighting people trying to hurt you day in and day out.

But that is why Emerald loved Cinder. Cinder found her and gave her a chance, saved her from a miserable life. They trained her to fight, so she would never again have to fear for her life and to punish anyone that dared to wrong her. And Cinder had a plan, a plan that would make sure all the bad people of the world would die. In the end, all that was rotten in the world would disappear.

Including Jaune Arc.

Emerald stopped.

Jaune Arc was a good person. That she knew already. Yes, silly and naïve. But good at heart nonetheless.

He wanted to believe Emerald was a good person too, just someone that got too hurt in the past. But Emerald did many horrible things that she was sure Jaune would despise her for, and he was going to disappear because he wasn't strong enough. He was not in the plans.

Emerald felt a single tear in her eye and used her fingers to remove it.

She walked back to Beacon; she needed to report to Cinder, the person that saved her, the person she owned everything to. Jaune would be a casualty of their plan, something they all knew it was necessary.

"I will never suffer again." Emerald affirmed to herself. She was going to follow Cinder and her plan. She had to.

…

Saber didn't know why she ran away from her group of friends.

They were going back to the bullhead station to fly back to Beacon, when she saw a boy passing in a bike. He looked at her and she felt like she knew him, like she have met him many times before, and that he was dangerous. So she couldn't just leave it be.

She summoned her armor and sword and gave chase, but now she stood in the middle of the road, cars honking at her, no sign of that person. She gripped her sword harder and bit her lip, because she was afraid. Something evil was lurking around and needed to be stopped so the sacrifices made in the past wouldn't be wasted.

"Saber!"

Her Master's voice reached her and she turned around. She saw a red-haired boy for a second, but then she remembered her new Master was blonde, but that both had gentle hearts and a heroic disposition. Together with her Master were his friends, her friends. She would protect them. She would protect those happy days she had. But she would not forget that person.

A person that shared the same blonde hair as her Master, but had red eyes.

…

"Why you revealed yourself to her, Archer?" Kotomine questioned the blonde haired Servant.

"I just paid a visit to an old friend. She changed nothing, as expected. But her power is not the same." Archer answered as he sat in a chair, serving himself some wine.

"Her summoning probably was incomplete. Better. Therefore no one will interfere with our plans." Kotomine showed Archer an old helmet.

"Oh, so we will summon that one for that impatient mongrel?" Archer grabbed the helmet and played with it a little.

"Yes, he will be a good distraction. With lucky, they will kill each other." Kotomine left an evil laughter out, one that didn't impressed Archer. He had plans of his own, after all.

…

 **A.N. I never really expected to make Emerald a relatively big character on this, but while Cinder have the entire evil look, somehow Emerald seems to me as a good girl in the company of bad people. Maybe it is her big eyes. I am not sure yet what exactly will happen between her and Jaune, but probably not a love triangle.**


	8. A New Challenger Approaches

The clash of swords could be heard around the club as Jaune kept training with Pyrrha and Saber, since the two weeks between the qualifiers and the Tournament itself passed quickly, maybe too quickly for the knight's liking. He finally got the hand on his improved sword, and more than that, those two weeks saw him improving his agility, stamina and strength. While it was true that he was still a league behind his friends, now he was the level he was supposed to be when he first came to Beacon. It was what his trainers said to him, and even Ms. Goodwitch assured him that he was a good student on his own. Yet he worried if that was enough.

Team JNPRS helped him and Pyrrha to prepare to the Tournament, and Saber found a great delight to fight the Spartan. Both had almost the same level of skill, Saber having the advantage of an invisible sword and pure physical prowess, Pyrrha had her agility and versatility. One thing Pyrrha noticed was that her Semblance didn't work on Saber's sword or armor, and she concluded that they obvious weren't made of metal.

Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship was still unknown for most of their friends. It was not that they were actively hiding it, but they both discovered that when you don't try to hide something too hard people seemed to miss it entirely. Saber knew, and Velvet discovered when she stumbled at the couple kissing a few days before, but the bunny understood why Pyrrha wanted to keep it a secret a little longer.

Emerald kept her distance from Jaune in the last days, to Pyrrha's merriment. From time to time they would spot her observing them, but she avoided any interaction. Saber still was wary of her, and a few times she tried to follow the green haired girl in her invisible form, but somehow Emerald could noticed being followed and would evade her pursuer with a great display of skill.

"Enough." Pyrrha said in a gentle voice as Jaune sat in the ground, panting. "Your skills really improved, Jaune. You are ready for the Tournament."

"Thanks Pyr. Hard to believe it is just after tomorrow." Jaune commented as he sheathed his sword. He found even harder to believe that he was going to be on it.

"Yes, therefore, no more training, and I mean it Jaune. No hidden training with Saber, no jogging, no hitting the gym. You need to recover your energy and let your muscles rest." Her concerned tone made Jaune smile and promise to obey her.

"I think we all need to rest now. It is already night, and there is even a beautiful full moon out." Ren offered an off-handed comment ad he took a sleeping Nora in his arms, but when Saber looked at the moon from the window, a certain melancholy hit her.

…

Blake watched her friends leaving the club, and as soon as she was sure they wouldn't spot her she entered. She walked straight towards the library and checked one more time to be completely sure she was alone. She couldn't allow anyone to interrupt her, and she would talk with her friends if she could succeed in the ritual.

She closed the library's door and started drawing the magical circle in the stone floor as the book she found instructed her. Once finished, she put a small silver mirror she 'borrowed' from Weiss, as the book stated that an offer of sorts was required, the most valuable the offer, the powerful the servant. Now one last step was needed.

She wondered how Jaune summoned Saber as she drew her sword, but the book stated that if the ritual was left incomplete someone else could resume it, so Blake assumed that the previous occupant of that place was in the final stages of the summoning ritual when someone or something interrupted it. She made a small cut on the back of her hand and let her blood drip on the circle.

At first nothing happened, and Blake wondered if she failed the ritual somehow, but as she was about to look at the book the circle shone brightly, as a whirlwind of light, mist and wind formed, forcing the Faunus girl to cover her eyes. When the light subdued and she looked back, she saw someone in the circle, and was taken aback at the scene.

Her Servant sat in the middle of the circle over her legs, her hands put in the front, just fingertips touching the ground. She wore a black and blue oriental dress of sorts, with golden details. Her pink hair styled with a blue ribbon on the top of her hair, but her big fox ears were not hidden, nor her big fluffy tail.

"Please threat me well, Master." She said in a polite tone, and then she opened her amber eyes so much like Blake's own and giggled.

"You are a Faunus! How… fitting?" Blake commented, the emotion of succeeding almost too much to hold back.

"What is a Faunus, Master?" The Servant asked, and Blake blinked surprised. Saber told her that Servants were famous figures of the past, but she didn't remember, aside from legends, the existence of Faunus like creatures was something in the past.

"Someone like me, like you." Blake answered undoing her ribbon and showing her cat ears to the Servant, whose eyes shone and suddenly she was petting her Master. "Hey!"

"Are you a nekomata, Master? But you don't have two tails, or any tail…"

"I am not! I am a Faunus, a race of people with animal features!" Blake protested over the overwhelming display of affection.

"Sho cute!" The Servant starting to nuzzle Blake's ears, forcing the black haired girl to get away of the affectionate fox girl. Blake wondered what kind of Servant she got, and why she was so drastically different from Saber, especially on personality.

"OK, let's talk. What type of Servant you are?"

"Tamamo is a Caster, Master." The Servant answered a bit too happy for Blake's taste.

Caster, a magic user, according to the book. Blake sighed, since she expected someone like a Lancer or a Saber class. Also, she spoke her name, something Saber hasn't yet. According to Saber the identity of a Servant is better be held in secrecy, so any enemy Servant wouldn't have an advantage over others. Blake looked at her hand and saw the same command seals Jaune had, absolute magic orders they could give a Servant even against their will or sometimes even abilities. The design was different from that of Jaune's, but according to the book she could use three commands her Servant would have to obey.

"Caster, it is better for you to never use your real name when we aren't alone." Blake finally spoke back, and Caster happily nodded.

"Tamamo will obey, Master." The fox girl had a beautiful, childish smile that Blake got reminded of Ruby, despite Caster having a body that could compete with Yang's.

"Good, good. Now that I know this works, all my friends could have a Servant, and we will be able to stop the White Fang…" Blake spoke more for herself than Caster, but the Servant tilted her head curiously.

"Master, why would you help people to get Servants? Don't you wish the Holy Grail?"

"What? Oh, no. I just want to protect my people." Blake said, since she knew that the Holy Grail would mean fighting Jaune, and no powerful desire was enough to make her do something like that.

"Good, better this way. But you know; only one Servant of each class can be summoned." Caster explained, and Blake opened her eyes wide. The book mentioned nothing of that limit, and it meant there would be not enough Servants for every one of her friends.

"So, Jaune has Saber, I have you, Caster, meant that Assassin, Berserker, Lancer, Rider and Archer are available…" Blake counted on her fingers, but Caster shook her head.

"I can tell you that four Servants where already summoned."

"Wait… What do you mean four were already summoned?"

…

Cardin laughed as he saw his own Servant. He could feel its power soothing over his dark armor, covered in what looked like moving shadows. The knight in front of him clearly was powerful, and to the young Winchester, soothed way more power than Saber. He kept laughed as he circled the tool he hoped would return his pride.

He failed to notice the madness his servant held.

"I can't wait to show Jauney boy my new toy. And teach him and his lame Servant what a true man power is."

"While Berserker is your Servant to command, may I suggest you wait to act on your intents at the Tournament?" Kirei suggested as he looked with a smile of disdain towards Cardin, the boy missing it entirely as he was too absorbed in admiring his new 'toy'.

"Yeah, yeah. I will humiliate Jaune when everyone is looking, the entire world. I bet his family will love to see how pathetic he is." Cardin laughed and watched Berserker turning invisible. "Well, better I go now before someone suspects anything. You just wait, Kirei, I will give you quite a show."

Cardin laughed once again as he walked out of the old church Kirei turned in his base of operations, and as soon as he was out of sight, Archer appeared and sat into a chair, holding a cup of wine in his right hand.

"That mongrel really does not know how to use his brain. He really thinks he would receive a Servant with no strings to it?"

"He is just a fool believing the world owes him something. All we need him to do is wreck enough havoc so we can get the attention of the necessary people for our plans." Kirei explained to Archer, which just kept a bored look in his face.

"Do thou think those people could achieve the Restoration?" He inquired, and Kirei laughed to himself.

"Yes, I know they can. One is so desperate to protect the people that he would create a fake life, the other so eager for power that she would sacrifice anyone to take a hold of it. And once our associate shows them the power of the Servants, it will be easy to manipulate them so we can have what our hearts desire."

Archer laughed at it, but agreed. It was always easy to manipulate desperate people and people that desired power. After all, living proof of both just left with a Servant too powerful, too mad to be controlled, and made no questions whatsoever.

"I praise you, Kotomine Kirei, because you are going to fix my boredom."

…

"Where you have being?" Yang questioned her partner as she entered the room.

Blake blinked when Ruby turned the lights on, to see that everyone in her team was awake and looking at her questioning. She saw they were mostly worried about her, except Weiss that was mostly annoyed. She was happy she had some make-up to hide her command seals hand at the club, or else she would have to explain why she got a "tattoo" and she definitely wanted to avoid that.

"I was at the club's library reading a book and lost track of time."

It was true, just not the whole truth. She spend a good chunk of time explaining to Caster how Remnant worked, who were her friends, about Jaune and Saber. Caster explained a lot of things to Blake, dangerous things that Jaune ignored as Saber's memory were incomplete due to an imperfect summoning. Caster said she could fix it, but for now Blake had too much to digest and was unsure how to disclose it to her friends, especially when half of them would fight on the Tournament. So she decided to hold the information for after it.

"You promise you aren't overdoing yourself like last time?" Ruby asked, making Blake feel the guiltiest person ever when she looked at those silver puppy eyes.

"Yes, I promise. After the Tournament I will explain in detail."

"Why not now?" Weiss asked, her arms crossed.

"Because, I am tired, you all are tired. And Weiss, you and Yang will be competing at the Tournament, and what I've being doing is collecting information. Information I fully intend to disclose with you all after the Tournament." Blake tried to be as most open and honest as she could be.

"Blakey, if it is dangerous…" Yang questioned, but Blake cut her short.

"I swear it is not…" _For now…_

"I am giving you a vote of trust, Belladonna. Better you make sure I won't regret it." Weiss finished and returned to her bed.

"Just count on us to help, OK?" Ruby reassured her teammate before climbing back her 'bunker' bed. Yang said nothing and returned to hers.

 _Your friends care a lot about you, Master. Wouldn't be better to just tell them?_

 _I will tell them when we are ready._

That mental communication certainly was useful, Blake thought to herself as she changed in her sleep wear. She felt even guiltier for holding information from her friends, but if Caster was right, that there were other people outside her circle of friends with Servants, she couldn't simple tell them with the Tournament so close. They would want to act on that and lose the focus on it.

She lay in her bed and tried to sleep. Tomorrow she would think with a clearer head.

…

Pyrrha was humming as she walked the corridors. The next day she would participate in a Tournament, something she really liked. And better than that, her boyfriend would participate on it too. She actually hoped they could do the finals together, and the last weeks made that being more than a faint hope.

Suddenly she almost stumbled over Emerald, and the two girls looked surprised at each other, but they didn't spoke a world. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Pyrrha made the motion to walk away, Emerald called her.

"How's blondie?"

"He is grand, thank you for asking." Pyrrha made no effort to hide her annoyance over the girl.

"Calm down, champs, I am not trying to steal your boyfriend from you." Pyrrha didn't answer to that, but she enjoyed seeing Jaune referred as her boyfriend. "I just want to know if he is ready for the Tournament. There will be some kickass fighters there and his little secret weapon might not be enough."

"I will let you know Saber is a Tournament level swordswoman on her on, and that Jaune can take care of himself." Pyrrha spoke without looking at Emerald.

"He better be."

Pyrrha turned around but Emerald already disappeared. Something in her last sentence didn't sound right, not just a rival riling up her, but more of a warning from someone concerned. But the Spartan decided to ignore it and just go talk with her knight and enjoy the last day they would have to relax. Especially considering how easily Jaune could get his nerves to act up.

 _He is probably nervous and babbling to Ren and Saber._

…

"What was that?" Mercury questioned Emerald as she turned a corner.

"I was doing my job and collecting information." Emerald explained bluntly.

"Really, for a second, it sounded like you was worried about one tall, blonde and pathetic boy."

"The only tall and pathetic boy I know have silver hair." Emerald retorted and walked away laughing. Yet, she knew that there was a bit of truth on Mercury's words.

…

Pyrrha joined her friends at the mess hall for breakfast. As she expected Jaune was a pile of nerves, with Saber trying to calm him down, and Nora attempts of calming him by stating all the things that wouldn't go wrong in the Tournament making him even more nervous. She sat by his side and grabbed his hand, making him relaxing a little.

"So, do we know who the first opponents on the tournament will be?" Sun questioned as he ate pancakes and bananas.

"Yes, we do. Sun will fight someone from Mistral, as will be Jaune, some gladiator boy called Iolaus." Weiss said as she checked her scroll, showing a boy with armor the same style as Pyrrha's holding a trident and a steel net.

"Don't worry Jaune, I fought him before and he is not on your level." Pyrrha reassured him, and Jaune just left a small smile out.

"Yang will fight someone from Vacuo, I will defeat Neptune…"

"Hey!" Neptune protested as Weiss already decided he wasn't going to win.

"Pyrrha will fight someone from Atlas. So, aside me and Neptune, we will not have to fight each other until next round." Weiss concluded closing her scroll.

"Well, I will be happy if I can get to fight any of you guys. But what do you say, Saber, aim for the crown?" Jaune asked Saber that gave him a big proud smile.

"A knight always aims for victory, so do we."

"Glad to see you are aiming high, Jauney boy. We don't want you to blemish the name of our school with a humiliating defeat." Cardin said approaching the table, receiving stink eyes from everyone in the table. "Calm down, I am just here to wish you all luck. After all, it would be a shame if something happens during the Tournament."

"What do you mean by that?" Ren questioned, noticing that Cardin was almost affirming something would happen in the Tournaments.

"Relax, I am sure everything will go as expected." Cardin finished going away.

"You know, he was oddly happy despite being out of the tournament." Ruby questioned as she ate a cookie.

"And he has being quite the past days. Do you think he is planning something?" Yang questioned as she saw Cardin together with his team.

"Ugh, I hope not. All I want is for all of this to go as smoothly as possible." Jaune finished the issue while drinking his juice.


	9. Check Mate

The Tournament was being held in a brand new stadium build recently by the Vale government as a way to show off how healthy and modern the country was. The unique design in the form of overlapping trees and leaves gave it a rare beauty, while the use of the most modern technology made it the most advanced building ever made.

The multi-use arena had several rings for the battles, but the main ring was the biggest and held up to twenty thousand people. The opening ceremony happened there with several foreign dignitaries giving speeches. The first year students from the four Hunters school would fight on all of the arenas at the same time, with Pyrrha Nikos fighting in the main arena right in the first day.

The first day of the tournament worked as expected for the group. With the exception of Neptune that lost to Weiss, they all won their matches. Jaune and Saber fought together from the beginning and overwhelmed their first opponent. Jaune decided that going all out in the very first match would make the other competitors scared of them. It kind of worked as Sun hit his head in the round table at the club once again.

"I can't believe I am against the blonde duo already." He lamented as Neptune patted his back. The demonstration of what the combined knight force could do was enough for everyone to put Jaune as a favorite for the title.

"Hey, we promised to give our all already. So I expect you to make this fun." Jaune said trying to look confident, and for the first time in his life it was working.

"Well, I am pretty sure you all will have fun watching me and P-money getting all sweaty." Yang teased, and Pyrrha got really red like her hair.

"Oh my god, Yang! How can you make such an event sound dirty!?" Weiss complained as Yang laughed her ass off.

"I think I am just glad I will fight such worthy opponent as you, Yang." Pyrrha was actually happy she will finally be able to fight with all her might the next day. Yang just gave her a wink, but was also eager to test her might against the Invincible Girl.

"And you got to fight Emerald, right Weiss?" Ruby asked and Weiss grinned.

"Yes, I am eager to see what she is really capable off. She had an easy victory yesterday. But that Mercury guy was weird. Was almost like he was bored."

Everyone remembered that one fight. It was almost like Mercury could have finished it anytime he wanted, but instead chose to play with his opponent. Pyrrha felt something similar the day she had to fight against him on class, like he was just testing her.

"Come on, we will deal with one opponent at a time. Let's all go to sleep." Jaune finished the talk and they returned to their rooms.

…

"Are you sure about it, Caster?" Blake asked her servant while they observed Jaune and Saber from afar.

"Yes, Master. You can trust your wife." She answered with a big smiled, making Blake sigh and shake her head.

"Didn't we talk about this already? You are not my wife, Caster." Blake was annoyed over Caster overly displays of affection. The Servant was too touchy, and too fond of using certain names to refer to their relationship.

"But Master, your Caster just wants to please you!" Caster started to hug and rub her cheek on Blake's, making the cat girl push her off a little. "Master is rejecting me…"

"Caster, I am not rejecting you, stop crying." Caster immediately smile, making Blake wonder what kind of mess she got into. "All I want to know is if you are sure Jaune's link with Saber is incomplete."

"Yes, it is. Tamamo can feel that the ritual wasn't properly performed. Saber is only using half of her full power." Blake admired that even only using half of everything she could, Saber still was a hard opponent to defeat like that.

"And there is a way to fix it?"

"Yes, Master and Servant need to complete their magic circuit. To do that, it is needed to perform a new ritual." Caster explained, than blushed and held her face with her hands. "They need to consummate it."

"Caster, please tell me you don't mean what I think you mean."

…

"So, it will be tomorrow?" Mercury asked Cinder as he fixed his clothes.

"Yes, Adam will make his big entrance on the stage, and that will force Ironwood to act. While he is too busy dealing with the White Fang, Emerald and I will free Roman, and you will make sure that Pyrrha Nikos is defeated on live broadcast." Cinder explained as she messed with a computer terminal. "As soon as the might Atlas military is defeated by their own new weapon, and the people see their champion fall, they will be hopeless, and will be easy to take what we need."

"Any chance those kids might interfere? The red one is especially fond of messing with our businesses." Mercury added and Cinder smiled.

"They will be too busy fighting the White Fang and the Atlesian weapon to mind us. Emerald, do the young Jaune Arc and his Saber could interfere in our plans?" Emerald used a rigid expression, as if she didn't want to be there, yet answered right away.

"Not if his girlfriend is in danger. If he sees Pyrrha in danger, he will go help her instead of messing with your plans."

"And you are sure you can take care of both of them, Mercury?" Cinder turned back to the boy once again.

"Yeah, since he is such an amateur. If it was not for that Aura construct, he would be of no interest at all. And we have exactly what we need to deal with both miss cereal box and the other girl, one stone for two rabbits." Mercury smiled as he patted a small black box, Cinder's eyes glowing satisfied.

…

Jaune checked his armor and weapons once again. He had the luck of having the first battle of the day, since from now on all battles would be held in separate time slots. His family couldn't come, and somewhat he was glad about it. They could be a bit too much to deal with.

"Do not worry Master, we can win." Saber said once again, and Jaune smiled.

"Of course we can. We are going there and fight to the best of our abilities, maybe even better than that." The bravado made Saber laugh a bit, but more of the proud feeling she felt over Jaune than anything else. The rest of the boys in the men's lockers were completely uncomfortable with the girl's presence there, no matter what they told them she was.

They becoming even more surprised as Blake Belladonna entered the locker room ignoring them all.

"Jaune, I need to talk to you." The boy shared a look with Saber and then back to Blake.

"You know this is the guys' lockers?" was the first thing that came from his mouth.

"They have nothing I don't saw before, neither am I impressed." The blunt statement hurt a few egos inside the room. "It is important."

"Ok, sure. But I don't think…"

 _Jaune Arc and Sun Wukong, please proceed to the arena._

"… We have time to talk before my match. I will talk to you as soon as we end this." Jaune got up and put his sword and sheath-shield on his belt. Saber disappeared soon after.

"OK, but promise me you will come direct to me. It is about Saber and you." She walked away as soon as they left the lockers. Jaune just followed her with her eyes curious to know what Blake new about Saber.

 _Maybe all that research she was doing finally returned the result she expected?_

"Looks like that, Saber. I am sure we will know all about it soon."

…

Adam Taurus knew how humans thought. They were too proud of their own achievements to look at their fails. And today they would learn in the hard way they weren't at the top. The Tournament arena was heavily guarded, and no one could enter undetected.

If they used the known entrances.

So many Faunus worked building the place that sneaking some agents between them and convincing them to create a secret entrance was too easy. The fact that all that happened even before the Breach was just perfect, as all the extra security wasn't focused on the arena itself. In the end, everything was going according to the plan as the White Fang took down the thin fake wall that separated the hidden passage from the stadium.

When Roman and Cinder appeared and started providing them with resources, Adam knew to not fully trust them. They were humans after all. But the power they gave them was needed, and now they would show them the power of the Faunus.

"Adam, we wait your order." A masked White Fang soldier spoke.

"When the first fight starts, we act." Adam ordered.

…

Cardin smiled as he looked down the main arena. Jaune Arc would be the first to compete, and with a Faunus to boot. He was eager to show his power against the blonde night and he would show it in national television. He didn't care about the consequences. He didn't care about Beacon anymore. All he could see is that he would have his revenge and nothing could stop him and his new toy.

…

"See Ozpin, no one will be able to interfere with the Tournament." Ironwood said to Ozpin over the communication link. Ozpin just sipped on his mug. "That is what a display of power can do."

"While I appreciate your confidence, James, I would like to remind you this is just the second day of the tournament. I would keep my eyes on the security system if I was you."

"I guarantee you Ozpin, nothing will happen. Your children won't need to lift a finger except to cheer at each other and compete."

"That we shall see and hope for, James."

…

Jaune stood in the middle of the arena waiting for Sun, who was fashionable late. Or better yet, was being so late that was on the brink of being disqualified. While the prospect of not having to fight a friend was appealing, the other side of that coin was having people complaining about him advancing to the next round without a win. But soon enough Sun appeared, panting and finishing eating a banana.

Jaune and Saber groaned a little at the scene as the judge complained to Sun about his tardiness. But they finally smiled at each other as Sun shook hands with the knight. The announcer made a big fuzz of that, calling Jaune the biggest surprise of the tournament, the heir to the Arc legacy and even the charming knight. But the screen showed a lot more of Saber than him, and both felt annoyed about it.

As soon as the bell rang, Sun jumped on Jaune that prepared to block the attack with his shield. But an explosion made both of them stop and Saber appear. Then several explosions could be heard around the stadium, all close to the exits. From them several armed members of the White Fang appeared attacking the few soldiers located inside the arena. The Atlesian automated soldiers didn't responded to the soldiers' orders, instead going after anyone trying to fight back.

"Master!"

"Yeah, I see! Sun, our battle is postponed. Let's go help the people!" Jaune ordered and Sun disappeared in a few jumps. Saber became invisible again to move easier. But as Jaune motioned to follow him the wall separating the arena from the bleachers exploded, and from them came a black knight involved in living shadows, a threatening red light coming from his visor. Behind him appeared a face Jaune knew well.

"Cardin!"

"Well, Jauney boy, let's see who is the better knight? You? Or Berserker?"

…

Blake couldn't understand what was happening. The White Fang was attacking the event, where the military power of the kingdoms was concentrated, and also so many Hunters, both full-fledged and in training. She wondered what he expected to achieve there, but all she could imagine is that once the surprise past, the White Fang would be decimated.

That is when she saw Adam Taurus, her former mentor and partner walking towards the PA system room. It was her chance to talk to him, to try to make him seem that what he was doing would doom all the Faunus. She mentioned to move but Caster called for her, leaving her hidden state.

"Master, your friend is in trouble!"

Blake looked at the arena and saw Jaune still there, sword and shield ready as a man wearing a black armor stood menacingly against him, with Cardin Winchester behind. She knew that black knight wasn't normal and exuded a horrifying aura, one of madness and death.

"He is a Servant! A Berserker! Your friend has no chance against him, unless Saber finishes the summoning ritual!"

Caster warning made Blake freeze. Jaune was her friend, but if she didn't stopped Adam, the entire Faunus race could be blamed for that incident. Yet, if she didn't save Jaune, she would never be able to look at Pyrrha, his team, and even her friends in the face ever again. Caster noticed her conflict.

"Tamamo will do whatever Master wishes."

"Ugh. Let's go Caster!"

…

The screens and scrolls of everyone in the stadium and all around Remnant changed to the logo of the White Fang. They have hijacked the communication systems. After a few moments, Adam appeared wearing his Grimm mask, sword on hand.

"We are the White Fang. For too long time the Faunus have being oppressed by the government, by the humans. This ends today. Our demands are with your leaders, and they have 24 hours to comply, or every single human in this stadium will suffer the consequences."

General James Ironwood saw the demands appearing in his monitor and punched it. The automated drones he was so proud of were now in control of the White Fang, somehow they interfered even with the military communication. He couldn't simple take them down with the airships, and he didn't expected the many students down there could take them too. He needed to use his new weapon.

"Penny?"

"Yes, general." The artificial girl asked with a worried expression in her face.

"Are your new add-on properly installed?"

"I am combat ready." She declared, her new outfit, a tight combat armor, glowing green.

"Take the White Fang down, no matter how."

"Understood."

…

Pyrrha needed to reach Jaune. Ren and Nora were already fighting the white Fang inside the corridor, as were most of their friends. She knew the boy could defend himself of one or two assailants, but she wasn't so sure about a whole squad of them. She entered the arena and saw Jaune confronting the mysterious black night, but at that moment she couldn't see Cardin.

She tried to rush towards him but a White Fang member stopped her. He was clad as all of them, white and red robes and a Grimm mask. But somehow he moved differently, familiar, like she had already saw him before. She readied her spear and shield.

All the monitors started showing her against him.

A weird feeling filled her body, like something was disconnected from inside her.

As the man attacked first, she realized.

 _My Semblance... it is not working!_

…

Roman waited.

For days he has being held in that tiny cell, as he waited for the plan to be set in motion.

If the commotion outside was a sign, it already started, and the proud soldiers and nations that grew complacent and so sure of their power were panicking. The people would lose their trust on them, and with no one to fall back to, they would gladly accept the hand extended from the queen. And he would soon receive all the promised riches he deserved for his part on the play.

The door opened and he saw Emerald and Cinder smiling, with his clothes and weapon on hand. He laughed and accepted them, soon getting dressed.

"You two took long enough." He complained.

"It is not our fault you got yourself captured. Come on, let's go. Neo can't keep them busy forever." Emerald rushed, but as they walked, Roman looked at one of the screens and stopped. "Is that guy in black part of the plan?"

Cinder and emerald looked at the screen.

While it was fixed in Pyrrha fighting a disguised Mercury, on the side there was the image of Jaune and the black knight. Cinder didn't like that. An unknown element in her plans, but now was not the time to wonder about that, she would let Adam deal with whatever it was.

Emerald looked at the menacing figure, and surprising herself, wished that the knight could be safe.

…

Ruby defeated another White Fang member as her mind wandered to her friends. They were yet to find Blake, and last she saw of Jaune he was still in the arena. Their scrolls were only showing Pyrrha fighting the mysterious white Fang member, so she couldn't call Ozpin and Beacon.

As they finally reached the bleachers, they saw people being round up by the White Fang, even the Faunus. The drones the military were so proud of helping them. Above, they saw Ironwood's airship approaching and something fell from it, hitting the ground in front of team RWBY with full force. When the dust settled an armored Penny appeared in front of them.

"Penny? Is that you?" Ruby asked as a smiling Penny turned around.

"Yes, friend Ruby. Stand back. I will finish the White Fang."

Penny's swords flew off her back, but she stopped for a second, her armor changing from its green light to a red one.

"Friend Ruby, I recommend you to run."

"Penny?"

"I am combat ready, but not in control of my own body…" Penny said in almost a lament as she turned around, even her eyes glowing red.

…

"This is greatly interesting, Kotomine. I couldn't ask for a better entertainment myself." Archer said as he watched from a hidden corner of the stadium. "It have being too long since the last time I saw such epic battle unfolding in front of my eyes."

"And I guarantee you, King of Heroes, this is just the beginning. Soon, the glory of the Holy Grail War will return." Kirei stated as he laughed at the pieces in his game falling together.

...

"Berserker, I think it would be appropriate if you break Jauney boy's legs." Cardin ordered his Servant, that didn't move. "Hey, I gave you an order!"

"It seems your skills in making friends are still lacking, Cardin!" Jaune shouted, as Saber appeared by his side.

"Master, thou take care of the ignorant fool. I will deal with his Servant."

"Arrr…tho…..riaaa!"

In a sudden movement Berserker jumped against Saber.

Saber wondered who could be that Servant that knew her name.

A flash of light was seen as she clashed with the black knight.

…

A.N. : Next chapter I will have so much to deal with, and I can only blame myself. XD

So, I will ignore the events in Fate/zero for storytelling reasons. Saber would defeat zero Berserker easily if she already knew who he is. On the other hand, maybe not in the next chapter but the one after, I will have a bit of exposition about where this story is going to. ^^


	10. Omake

**A.N.: I am a big idiot. I fucking formatted the USB drive I held the chapters for this story, so I lost everything I wrote so far. I am banging my head against the table right now. And writing this. It is harder than it sounds.**

 **I am sorry, dear readers.**

 **This gave me a big writer's block for this story, so I am putting this one on standby till further notice or I get inspired again. To not let you all hanging, I decided to write a short omake with a 'what if' Jaune's Servant was a different Saber.**

…

"Are you my Master?"

Jaune looked at the figure clad in red in front of him. She had a superb figure, her perfect breasts lined by the white undershirt of the mix of jacket and dress she wore. She had powerful green eyes, her luscious blonde hair perfectly held by a bum and small braids. Her white skin shone under the light coming from the mosaic window. But one detail called Jaune's attention the most, and he needed to speak about it.

"I-I can s-see through y-your s-skirt!" Fair to say his red was as red as the girl's jacket in front of him. He just gave a proud smile as she rested her hands in her hips.

"Don't be foolish, it is not see-through, I am allowing you to see." She then looked down on him, as in deep thought. "Stand up, Praetor."

Jaune stood up as ordered, and tried to process in his mind who was that mysterious, gorgeous girl. She didn't look like she was older than him, but held herself with grace and dignity, a certain degree of aloofness, but full of pride and determination. She started to circle around him, and the boy then noticed that her clothes exposed much of her beautiful back, including part of her round buttocks, and once again the boy was fuming from his ears.

"You don't strike me as the most prominent centurion, Praetor. But I can tell you have potential. Besides…" She gently held his chin with her strong yet delicate hands. "You are a beautiful boy, and I certainly appreciate beauty."

She had lustful eyes towards the boy, and Jaune's mind just decided that was the perfect moment to reset. The red clad girl took noticed of that and started feeling Jaune's arms and chest, apparently evaluating him as someone would evaluate cattle. She was feeling his abs as someone entered the abandoned building. Her sweet voice and red hair made Jaune's mind restart.

"Jaune, are you here… Jaune!" Pyrrha was shocked to see the mysterious girl with both hands in his abs. "Jaune, please tell me she is one of your cousins!"

"Wha… OH DUST!" Jaune backed always from the mysterious girl, who seemed to admire Pyrrha for a bit. "Pyr, I swear I never saw this girl before today and I was doing nothing with her!"

"Ah, I see you have great taste too, Praetor. This Hellenic girl is just like Hippolyta from the old legends, the brave Amazon warrior that challenged even the power of Hercules! Indeed, she pleases me as well." The blonde girl approached Pyrrha and touched her arms, making the redhead skip to Jaune's side.

"Jaune, who is this girl?" There was lots of jealousy in Pyrrha's voice, and while Jaune couldn't get it, it was clear to the mysterious girl.

"Ah, I see. The Amazon's heart was taken by you as Hippolyta took Theseus' heart. It is beyond such lover of all things beauty like me to get in the way of such romance, like the envious goddess Juno did over Jupiter. So, Praetor, I command you as your Empress to please the woman that chose you as hers." The way she spoke was regal, but Jaune's mind couldn't fathom him being Pyrrha's target for her affections.

"Wait, wait, wait, Pyr and I aren't like that, right Pyr…" Jaune turned to see Pyrrha's gazing downwards, her cheeks bright red under the light of the moon coming from the windows, she fidgeting a little. Jaune's mind come to a screech, reset itself and a big neon sign popped inside it. "Wait… Pyr… Do you…"

"That was definitely not how I wanted to tell you… But… For a long time now, I have being… you know…" She was unable to speak the words she wanted to say for so long. Jaune just smiled and left out an amused chuckle.

"You, Pyrrha Nikos, for me? You could have someone way better than Jaune Arc…"

"No, I couldn't, because to me, there is no one better." She shyly confessed, and Jaune held her left hand, his other hand on her waist, and she looked slowly up, their gaze finally meeting.

"I wish I could have told this to you after I finally become someone proud of myself. But since the dance… I have being in love with you."

Pyrrha couldn't believe the words he spoke. She who waited for far too long for them. She who almost gave up so many times. Only to see Jaune doing all the small acts of gallantry and kindness he did so naturally and gave so little value, but that spoke so much to her. Tears flowed from her big green eyes, and Jaune kissed her gently. Pyrrha answered by hugging him tightly and kissing him with much passion. They only stopped by the sounds of applause.

"Bravo! Bravo Praetor! That was indeed an act worthy of my presence! Such fiery passion could be reenacted in the biggest theaters across the lands of my empire, performed by the greatest actors! Ah, I am so happy you are my Master!" Jaune's brain stopped working while Pyrrha gave a disconcerted look at the blonde girl and back at him.

"Jaune! Who in all Remnant is this girl?!" The knight could only open his mouth without words coming from it.

"Umu! Here I thought that my legend would be so big that even after millennia people would recognize me on sight! I will let you know, Praetor, that I am Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Servant of the Saber class, and you are my Master in the upcoming Holy Grail War. You better refer to me just as Saber before others, especially potential enemies." She stated proudly. Jaune's mind immediately started a strike, and Pyrrha gave him a very displeased stare.

"Jaune Arc, better you have a good explanation for this, if you want to have a girlfriend for longer than five minutes."

Jaune screamed internally as loud as possible to try to make his brain work again. Pyrrha waited there, deep down hoping he had an explanation she could believe because she would not lose him as soon as she finally got him.

Saber gave a pleased laugh at the scene.

"Praetor, not only you entertain me with such display of passion but also as a great comedian!"

Enough to say, Jaune never wanted to be dreaming so much as in that moment.


End file.
